The Unexpected Heir
by CaseyLove
Summary: Harry is in his sixth year at Hogwarts and Ginny her fifth. The Second Wizarding War is nearly upon them and things are tough enough between school and saving the world, but things only get more difficult when the couple finds out that Ginny is pregnant.
1. NewYear's

**For obvious reasons, I'm kind of manhandling the time, so if the timing of certain events in the story as compared to the book seem off, it's just so that I can narrate smoothly. Takes place around the beginning of Half Blood Prince. (See, example number one, Ginny and Harry weren't dating yet by that point.) Anyway, on with the story, hope you like it!**

**The amazing cover art is by trixR4kids869! Show her some love!  
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NewYear's

You don't pick who you fall in love with, and it never happens the right way. Of this, Harry was fully aware. In fact this had become blatantly obvious to him in the past few months as he and Ginny's relationship had grown stronger, owing to a kiss they'd shared at the end of the summer. They'd started dating and had been inseparable since. Harry was so in love with Ginny he sometimes felt as though his heart wouldn't be able to handle it, and he knew that she felt the same. The only problem with their relationship was ... everything.

Ginny was Harry's best friend's _little sister_. He knew that there were unspoken 'bro' rules against that. Also, his being with a girl put her at extreme risk of Voldemort wanting to hurt her as a personal attack against Harry. And on Ginny's side things were equally problematic. She had six older brothers who were extremely protective of her, and would prefer not to see their 'Little Ginny' with anyone. And Mrs Weasley, though she loved Harry, didn't want to consider Ginny to be older than the cute ten year old girl she had been five years ago - understandable as most mothers felt this about their youngest child - and didn't like her dating, let alone dating a boy who was a year older.

But this could not stop Ginny and Harry; their love was too strong for that. Ginny insisted that she could take care of herself and didn't need Harry protecting her from the Dark Lord; repeating to Harry _"I can manage my own safety and take care of myself, thank you very much," _And the Weasley family dealt with their problems and allowed Ginny and Harry to be happy, knowing that being grumpy or unpleasant toward their relationship would just form an unnecessary wall - the two of them would be together no matter what.

So they all got used to it. In fact, Mrs Weasley had started referring to their relationship as 'cute', and her sons did the same, though they still kept a close eye on Harry. "No harsh feelings," Fred had told him multiple times. "Just watching out for our little sister," George would finish. "We're only two years older than you," Fred would add. "We know how teenage boy think," they'd say together, raising their eyebrows. The idea that Fred and George had even the slightest clue of the way he thought about Ginny in private was enough to make Harry shudder.

Of course, Harry had never really acted on any of those thoughts before. But tonight was different than most nights. Tonight, on NewYear's Eve he looked at Ginny with more than just love and admiration, tonight he looked at her with desire. He wanted more than anything to run up to her and kiss her in the middle of the crowd of friends and family members who were all celebrating the New Year at the Weasley house, (where Harry had been invited to stay for the holidays) but he knew better from experience; Ron had walked in on him and Ginny snogging once and had been agitated with Harry for days. Ron too, had gotten used to the idea of his best friend dating his sister, but regardless; he didn't want to know much about it, and he _certainly_ didn't want to see it.

The clock struck midnight and everyone cheered. Champagne was poured, songs were sung, and resolutions were made. Harry kissed Ginny passionately when the clock struck, and her brothers couldn't complain because they were also indulging in the first kiss of the new year - Bill with Fleur, Charlie with a girl he'd brought home from Romania named Ana, Fred and George with a set of twins they'd met at the joke shop, whom they were both now in steady relationships with, Mr. Weasley with Mrs. Weasley, and Ron with Hermione. All the other numerous guests seemed to have partnered up as well.

The festivities went on late into the night. The Weasley family - excluding Percy, who for the second Christmas in a row, was not present - had stayed up celebrating until the sun came up, but Harry and Ginny did not join them in this because the two of them had snuck off less than half an hour after the strike of the new year. In the midst of the excited party atmosphere, no one noticed their absence.

Harry had kissed her deeply and she had let out a soft moan before puling him by the hand and leading him up the stairs. Ginny's room was one of two rooms on the third floor, the other belonging to Fred and George. She leaned against the door and pulled him in to kiss her. He smiled at this and accepted her offer. They kissed for what could have been minutes or hours; neither of them really cared. How could anything matter at this point? When Ginny pulled away it was to open her bedroom door and pull him in. Harry turned to close the door behind him and Ginny laughed a little before locking it, just to be safe.

Harry stared down at her, taking in her extreme beauty as he did every time he looked at her. "You're beautiful," he said. Ginny blushed and embraced him, resting her head against his chest. Harry took a deep breath and kissed the top of her head. "I love you," he said.

She turned her head up to look at him. It was the first time he'd said it. She knew he loved her, and she loved him, but he'd never actually _said_ it before now. She smiled at him and kissed him again. "I love you too," she whispered. Harry snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her in, deepening their kiss. Ginny leaned further into him, causing the two of them to stumble and fall back onto her bed, landing softly, arms and legs intertwined with each other.

Ginny and Harry laughed. "Woops," she said.

"Ginny," Harry said in a sarcastic tone. "Honestly love, you've only had half a glass of champagne and you're already tipsy."

Ginny giggled. "I'm not tipsy," she said - and she wasn't lying, she was sober as ever. "I've always been clumsy around you. You know that." Ginny smiled seductively at Harry. "Since we're already here," she said and her fingers lingered at the hem of his shirt.

Harry hesitated. He wanted this more than anything, and it almost caught him off guard that she was offering. Ginny's hand slid slowly up Harry's shirt as though she was planning on taking it off. Harry thought about it for a moment. What if her family found out? Ron would _kill_ him. And on the other hand... he stopped himself. _Fuck what ifs,_ he thought. He loved Ginny and this is what people in love do.

"Are you sure you're ready?" He asked. This was both of their first times, and it wasn't going to be just some fling. He didn't want her to feel pressured to do it. He knew that he was ready but he wanted to be sure about her.

Ginny nodded, smiled, and kissed him.

Harry smiled back at her and shrugged off his shirt with Ginny's help. He then proceeded to remove her shirt, and pull her against him. The lace of her bra pressed into his skin and he ran his fingers through her tangled ginger hair. Ginny kissed him and said "I'm ready." She let out a sigh as he laid her down on the bed.


	2. Realization

**Hey, thanks for reading on to the second chapter! Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: This goes for my whole story, I don't own Harry Potter or any of it's characters, they belong to JK Rowling... who is the god of writing. Just saying**

The Realization

Six weeks had passed since Ginny and Harry had spent the night together on NewYear's, and everyone was back at school. Harry and Ginny were closer than they'd ever been (though neither of them had thought that was even possible) after the experience, but as a result - and much to Ron's dismay - the couple simply could not keep their hands off each other. Of course, with all the strict rules and secret watching eyes of Hogwarts, sex was out of the question, but the two of them still appreciated the time they _could _spend together.

But this week, however, Ginny was not in any sort of frisky mood. Quite to the contrary, she felt sick. It had started on Sunday when Ginny found herself peculiarly aware of the smell of things. She'd felt revolted by the scent of the black pudding which someone was eating all the way at the other end of the Gryffindor table at lunch. She shrugged this off - she'd never much liked black pudding anyway. But things only worsened after that point. By Tuesday she was completely nauseous all through her morning classes, by Thursday she was nauseous again, plus she was suffering frequent headaches at night as well as an increasingly nagging fatigue, and by today, which was Saturday, she was experiencing all of these things, and a constant need to urinate. Ginny assumed, and Hermione agreed, that she was having the worst flu ever.

It was very early on Saturday morning - so early, in fact, that the sun had only just come up. Ginny didn't bother to check a clock, but she figured it was about five. She was sitting on a couch in the Gryffindor common room curled up with a book and covered in a large blanket, as it was always chilly in the castle this early in the morning. She was reading Hermione's copy of _Hogwarts, A History_ which her now best friend had left on the coffee table after yet another attempt to get Harry and Ron to read it. Ginny had woken up with a start about half an hour earlier; feeling the strong urge to vomit. Afterwards she hadn't been able to fall back asleep, so she'd grabbed the first book she'd seen and began to read it, and now here she was, three chapters later, learning about the school's protection charms.

Harry came down the stairs groggily, rubbing his eyes and nearly knocking his glasses off in the process. Ginny looked up at him as he finally reached the bottom of the stairs. "Morning Harry," she said.

Harry's tired eyes snapped open. "Ginny?" he said, adjusting his glasses and staring at her. "What are you doing up, love?"

Ginny sighed, dogeared the page of her book, and closed it before placing it back on the coffee table. "I'm not feeling well," she said. "Couldn't get back to sleep. Why are you up?"

"Neville woke me up talking in his sleep, or, er, shouting really," he said. "I think he was dreaming about his parents."

Ginny nodded sadly, remembering The Battle of the Department of Mysteries and what they'd learned about Mr and Mrs Longbottom. Harry was looking at her empathetically. "You're still sick?" he asked. Ginny nodded. Harry moved to sit down on the couch next to her. Ginny scooted over to lean against him and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She looked up and smiled at him, and he pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "Are you staying home today?" he asked, regarding a scheduled trip to Hogsmede. "I'll stay home with you," he offered.

Ginny shook her head. "You go, have fun. I'll be fine."

Harry smoothed Ginny's long ginger hair. "No Ginny," he said. "You're sick, you need to be taken care of. Let me take care of you."

"But-"

"No buts," Harry insisted. "I'm staying here. Besides, it'll be nice to get some alone time."

Ginny smiled. "How did I get so lucky?" she asked.

Harry smiled back. "Luck has nothing to do with it. I'm in love with you, luck or not. If anything, _I _feel lucky to be with _you_."

Ginny, who felt uncannily like she was staring in some cheesy romance movie, leaned in and kissed Harry, darting her tongue into his mouth and thus clearly stating to him what kind of mood she was in. Harry, shocked at her pouncing on him, didn't kiss back at first. When his mind and his body finally caught up to each other, Harry's arms found they're way around Ginny's waist and he deepened their kiss. They kept at this until the rest of the Gryffindors awoke.

Harry and Ginny spent the remainder of the day sitting in the Gryffindor common room playing cards and comparing their teachers. It was decided that Hagrid was best of all, Snape the worst, and Trelawney the most irritating. Though Ginny was a year below Harry, they had all the same classes, but at different times. Ginny had said that she was considering switching to sixth year Transfiguration. "I'm really good at it, so I can catch up, I doubt Professor Mcgonagall will mind."

Ginny felt nauseous for the majority of the day, right up until dinner, when the remainder of the school had returned from Hogsmede. Ginny, after taking a fourth large helping of shepard's pie, agreed to go to the library with Hermione afterwards to help her study for her Arhythmancy test on Monday.

The two girls sat alone in the empty library, pouring over books by candle light. It was getting late, but they weren't tired. How could they sleep when they had things to talk about?

"Enough about Harry and I," Ginny said as she turned to the next page of _Arhythmancy Level Six. _It didn't make much sense to her because she was still working on level five. "Tell me about you and Ron."

Hermione blushed. "We're doing quite well," she said quietly in an embarrassed tone. Hermione was modest and liked to keep her love life to herself, which Ginny respected, so she dropped the subject - not that she had much of a choice; she was suddenly hit with a splitting headache, forcing her to stop talking.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, seeing the pained expression on Ginny's face.

Ginny nodded and closed her eyes, wincing slightly at the throbbing sensation in her head. When the feeling started to fade almost as suddenly as it had come on, she spoke. "Stupid flu," she grumbled.

Hermione spoke quizzically. "This... doesn't seem like the flu Ginny. I mean you've been sick for a week, and a stomach flus don't usually last more than a few days. Furthermore, a stomach a stomach flu doesn't have many symptoms other than nausea. Maybe you were hexed," she said worriedly. Ginny thought about it for a moment. Had she accepted any strange candies from Fred and George recently? "Tell me again what your symptoms are, Ginny?" Hermione asked, snapping her out of her daze.

Ginny thought about it. "Well, nausea, and headaches, and I'm always tired, and I can smell _everything_, and I swear I could eat this whole castle lately..." she trailed off, seeing the look of realization on Hermione's face. "What?" Ginny asked her. "What is it?"

She looked as though she was putting a jigsaw puzzle together in her mind. "Ginny," she said hesitantly. "You and Harry... you two haven't...?" she was staring at Ginny now.

Ginny knew exactly what she meant without needing to hear her say it. "No," she lied quickly. That was between she and Harry, no one else needed to know about their private life, and Ginny didn't see why that mattered at the moment anyway.

Hermione raised her eyebrows at her. "We're best friends Ginny, I know when you're lying. Just tell me."

Ginny gulped and smiled devilishly. "It happened on NewYear's," she said. She'd expected Hermione to scold her or 'tsk' her, or even just ask her how it had gone, but she did neither. She just looked at Ginny with that same analyzing look she'd had before.

"Did you use protection?" she asked.

Ginny thought about it. To her memory, they hadn't. They hadn't really thought of that. It was a night of passion, there really wasn't much thinking involved at all. All her brain could process was that she loved him, and that what he was doing felt _really_ good. "No, I guess we didn't," She said, slightly embarrassed at her idiocy.

Hermione stared at her, clearly at a loss for words. Lost in the memories of that night, Ginny hadn't quite caught on yet, but she could tell by the look on Hermione's face that whatever strange ailment she thought she had wasn't good. "What is it?" Ginny asked, trying to see what her friend was seeing. Hermione blinked at her and whispered. "Ginny, how long has it been since you last had your period?" she asked

Ginny's jaw dropped and she gasped.


	3. The Truth

**Thanks for all the awesome reviews guys! Keep them coming, they make me want to write faster!**

The Truth

"No," Ginny said. "No, no, no. I can't be... I'm not... No way."

"Ginny," Hermione said slowly. "The odds are high."

Ginny shook her head violently. "No, I can't be pregnant. I would know if I was pregnant."

"Ginny all the signs are there," Hermione's voice was calm. "You should take a test."

"A what?" Ginny asked, her eyes still wide with shock.

Hermione explained, "A pregnancy test. You know, it's a little white stick, you pee on it..." Ginny looked disgusted. Hermione shrugged. "I guess it's just a muggle thing. Well, maybe there's a spell for it, I'll look it up," she said, standing and walking the short distance over to the bookshelf to grab a book on magical ailments and medical procedures.

Ginny stared blankly into the distance. "How could I not know?" She said. "All the signs, and knowing Harry and I weren't using protection, I'm so stupid. How can I know anything about raising a child if I don't even know how to spot a pregnancy? I didn't even realize I was late!"

Hermione was flipping pages of her book, clearly looking for something specific. Without looking up she said, "Well, it's not your fault that you didn't jump to this conclusion, really. You've never experienced it before, and neither has anyone close to you during your life time. You _are_ the youngest in your family. You didn't know what to look for."

Ginny's feelings snapped immediately from shock to horror. "Oh god, my family. Mum's gonna kill me!"

"We don't know that yet," Hermione said, still flipping pages. "We still might be wrong. How late would you say you are?" she asked.

Ginny thought about it. "Probably about two weeks." She cringed. She was so irresponsible, how could she not have noticed that? How was it that all week when she was feeling crumby, not once had pregnancy ever crossed her mind?

"I found something," Hermione said, looking up from her book. "The Fruitility Potion. It says here that if you drink it, and you are not pregnant, it won't taste like anything, but if you drink it and you are pregnant, it will taste like strawberries. "

Ginny really didn't want to take it. She didn't want to know. All she could think was, _how did this happen?_ But she knew the answer to that, of course. She gulped. "Can we make it now?" she asked.

Hermione nodded. "Yes, it's easy to make, and I have all the ingredients in my potion making kit. But we can't do it here, the library is about to close, and we'll need to be back in our dorms soon."

"Okay," Ginny said. "Let's head up to Gryffindor tower and we'll figure it out from there," she said, standing up. "How could I let this happen?" She finally thought aloud.

"Things just happen Ginny," Hermione said, picking up her book and moving to the front table to check it out. "We just have to deal with it."

The two girls sat alone in an empty dormitory in the girl's wing of Gryffindor tower. It was a spare room that no one used, so it was the perfect hiding spot for them. Technically they weren't breaking any rule; they _were_ in the tower, but nevertheless, Hermione had put a locking charm on the door to prevent any unwanted visitors. Ginny was sitting in the corner of the room, hugging her knees to her chest nervously as she watched Hermione stir her cauldron, gradually adding ingredients which caused the liquid inside to bubble and steam. "It's ready," Hermione said after what felt to Ginny like an eternity, though she knew it really hadn't been long at all.

Ginny moved forward slowly and sat next to Hermione, who was pulling a cup out of her potions kit and ladling light pink liquid into it. She offered it to Ginny, who pushed it back toward her. "You should drink some first, to make sure it's working."

"You're right," Hermione said before lifting the glass to her lips and taking a sip. Ginny watched Hermione's face for some kind of change in her expression, but she remained indifferent. "Tastes no different than water," she said. She ladled more of the potion into the cup and handed it to Ginny. "Your turn."

Ginny looked down at the concoction as steam poured over the edges of the cup. She sniffed it quickly. It was odorless. Maybe that was a good sign. "Here goes nothing," she said exasperatedly before breathing in heavily and taking a huge gulp. Her mouth was immediately filled with the unmistakable and now almost sickeningly sweet taste of strawberries. Tears welled in Ginny's eyes as she finally swallowed. She didn't need to say anything, Hermione could tell by the look on her friend's face what the result had been. She leaned forward and hugged her tightly.

"What am I gonna do?" Ginny wailed.

Hermione tried to soothe her. "You don't have to do anything right now," she said. "We can figure it all out tomorrow. For now all you need to do is sleep. And tell Harry right away tomorrow."

"I can't tell him!"

"You have to Ginny. It's his baby too," Hermione insisted. Ginny sobbed into her friend's shoulder. She had never been so horrified in her entire life. What had she done?

**I know, I know, this chapter was super short. It had to end there though, or it wouldn't have flowed properly. I promise to make the next one longer. **


	4. Confrontation

Confrontation 

Ginny sat on the couch early on Sunday morning, just as she had the day before, except now she didn't read. Now she sat silently staring into the fireplace, thinking. Her usual nausea was more intimidating this morning because she knew the reason behind it - she was, without a doubt, pregnant with Harry Potter's child. Ginny was terrified. She had no idea how long she'd been sitting there, but seeing as it was dark when she'd first woken up, and now light was pouring in through the windows and Gryffindor students were slowly filling the common room, she knew it must have been at least a few hours.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Harry making his way down the stairs, with Ron by his side. She was horrified of talking to either of them at the moment, so she leapt from the chair and swiftly left the tower, practically jumping out of the portrait hole, and hoping that they hadn't seen her.

Ron hadn't, but Harry had. "Did she just run away?" He asked as he and Ron reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Who?" Ron asked.

"Ginny."

"Oh," Ron said. "I didn't know she was even here." He looked around the common room and saw Hermione emerging from the steps to the girl's dormitories, looking dazed. "'Mione," he called. Hermione looked up and headed toward them.

"Morning boys," she said tiredly with a yawn.

Ron looked at her questioningly. "Are you okay?" he asked. "You look exhausted."

Hermione rubbed her eyes and nodded. "I'm fine, I stayed up most of the night with Ginny."

"You were up _all night_?" Ron asked in a shocked tone. "Were you studying for that stupid test?"

"Er, yeah," Hermione lied, trying to sound convincing. "She was helping me study. It's good to be prepared"

Ron laughed. "Blymie Hermione, we get that you're a crazy grade fanatic, but do you have to make my sister one too?" he joked.

Hermione laughed, pleased that he'd bought her fib so easily. "You're just jealous," she said, "that I'm making your little sister smarter than you.

Ron snorted something sarcastic back at her, but Harry didn't hear it, he was concentrating on where Ginny might have run off to. Was he just crazy, or was she blatantly avoiding them? Or perhaps she had plans? But who makes plans this early in the morning? Maybe...

"Harry!" Ron nearly shouted. Harry turned his attention back to reality.

"Sorry, what?" he asked.

"I said, do you want to go to breakfast now?" Ron said impatiently.

"Oh," said Harry. "Yeah, sure."

"What's gotten into everyone today?" Ron asked. "You're all acting mental, honestly." And with that the three friends headed to breakfast together.

Ginny wasn't at breakfast, Harry noticed, nor was she at lunch. Perhaps she _was _avoiding him. So Harry spent breakfast thinking over reasons why Ginny would avoid him. Had he done something wrong? Was she upset with him?

Well, Harry was somewhat right. Ginny was avoiding him, and she was upset, but not with him, just upset in general. She'd spent the day roaming the grounds, thinking over her options and doing a fair bit of crying. She didn't know what she was going to do; at fifteen she was much too young to be a mother, but she felt wrong when she considered aborting it. Not that she was against abortion at all, but this was _Harry's_ baby. She love him more than anything in the world, how could she possibly get rid of the life they'd created together? She supposed there was always adoption, but she would have to be very precise about who the parents were; she'd want to give it to wizards so they wouldn't be shocked when the baby had powers. She'd heard complete horror stories from some of her muggle-born friends about their parents' reactions.

She knew she'd have to tell Harry eventually, but when, and how? Ginny didn't have the slightest clue as to what his reaction would be, so she had no way of planning anything. She'd just have to come right out and tell him. The thought made her shudder.

At around dinner time she finally decided that there was really no good time for this and that now was as good as ever, and she headed up to the owlry at fetch Pigwidgeon. Her message read in a very scribbled font, _We need to talk. Meet me in the Room of Requirement after dinner. - Ginny_. "Take this to Harry as soon as possible," she told the tiny owl as she released him through the window. Now all there was left for Ginny to do was to head down to the room of requirements and wait.

Her wait seemed too long and too short all at once. She was really dreading telling Harry her news, so on one hand she was wishing the time would move slower, but on the other hand, the suspense was killing her. Why did she have to say after dinner? That was such a long time away. With nothing else to do, she looked around the room, inspecting it. She hadn't needed anything from the Room of Requirement except a private meeting place, so it was nothing but an empty, spacious corridor with blank walls. It wasn't very interesting and thus didn't hold her attention for very long. She turned her thoughts back to the baby. She wanted to keep her baby, though she wasn't sure how Harry would feel about that. Her brain scrambled as she thought more about it. Keeping this baby meant her becoming a mother at fifteen - or, sixteen really. The baby would probably be born in September, about a month after her birthday. Could she handle such a huge responsibility at such a young age?

Just then, Ginny heard a door swing open on the opposite side of then room and she looked up. Harry was just stepping in, a confused look on his face. She hurried toward him, avoiding eye contact. Harry looked at her worriedly. "Ginny, what's this all ab-" He stopped himself, seeing the tears that were now pouring down his girlfriend's face. Ginny was not, nor had she ever been, a crier. Whatever was wrong had to be serious. "Ginny," he said softly. He pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist and holding her closely against him. Ginny sobbed into Harry's chest. She tried multiple times to speak but found that her shuddering was stopping her ability to do so. Harry shushed her soothingly as he lifted one hand to smooth her red hair. "It's okay. It's gonna be okay," he assured her, though he honestly had no idea what 'it' was.

Ginny continued to cry for some time before her tears subsided. Harry had thought it wrong to interrogate while she was in such a delicate state, so he waited for her to speak first. "H-h-Harry," she said, pulling away from him.

Harry brushed the tears off of her face. "What is it?" he asked, looking down at her and trying to hide the fear he was feeling. "What's wrong?"

Ginny's body still shook from crying. She took in a long, ragged breath, and her words came out in stuttered segments between sobs and hiccaughs.. "I h-ha-have t-to t-t-t-tell you s-something."

"What is it?" he asked, looking into her brown eyes concernedly.

Ginny stared at the floor. How was she ever going to say this? "I c-c-can't."

"What? You can't what?"

"I can't s-s-s-say it."

"Yes you can," Harry said, placing a hand on Ginny's shoulder. "Ginny, you can tell me anything. Just take a deep breath." Ginny remained silent, sniffling as she continued avoid his stare. Harry knew that nothing he was saying was helping, so he decided to try actions. He lifted her chin and kissed her lips softly. She kissed back hesitantly, and Harry could tell that she was holding back. What could possibly be so wrong? "Hey," he said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "Listen to me Ginny; I love you, and nothing you could ever say or do could ever change that. Now sweetheart, you're scaring me. Tell me what's going on."

Still staring at her feet, she finally mumbled, "I'm pregnant."

Harry blinked at her, still confused. "Sorry, didn't quite catch that, love."

Ginny finally took Harry's advise and inhaled deeply. She looked up to meet his eyes and said in as clear a voice as she could manage in her emotional state, "I'm pregnant."

Harry, in pure and utter shock, took a step back. "You're, you're _what_?"

"I'm pregnant, Harry," Ginny said more firmly now.

Harry took a moment to process this. Pregnant? Ginny couldn't be pregnant, no way. He must have heard her wrong. He stared at her with wide eyes. The look on her face told him that he'd heard her perfectly well. Now it was Harry's turn to stutter. "H-how?" he asked her.

Ginny rose an eyebrow at him "I think we both know the answer to that," she said in an 'isn't-it-obvious?' tone.

Harry shook his head. "Well of course I know _that, _I mean, weren't we... weren't we using...?"

"No Harry, we weren't," Ginny reminded him.

Harry thought back on the night he and Ginny had spent together, watching a play-by-play of it in his head. They went upstairs, they were kissing, they went to Ginny's room, they fell on her bed, their clothes came off, then they... Harry's eyes widened with even more shock than they already had. Ginny was right. "Oh my god," he said, "Oh my god, Ginny, I'm so _sorry_."

"Sorry?" Ginny said. "Sorry for what?"

"For doing this to you," he said. "For getting you pregnant. I should have seen this coming. I should have used a condom. I should have-"

"You don't need to apologize," she said. "It's not you're fault, we're both to blame here. I seem to recall being an active participant in the process of making this baby."

Harry winced at her statement. The word 'baby' had never seemed so intimidating to him. "Are you, are you sure?" He asked. "Are you sure that you're..."

Ginny suddenly lost her nerve and collapsed just in time for Harry to catch her. The two of them sunk to the floor, leaning against the wall. "I'm absolutely positive," Ginny said, realizing the irony of her statement. "Oh Harry, what are we gonna do?"

Harry tried to soothe her but honestly didn't know what to say. He was still processing the idea that he had fathered a child. He felt as though he should have foreseen this. She'd been sick all week... Ginny's body shook in his arms and he tried to comfort her. "It's going to be okay," he said, though less sure of this now that he knew what she was actually talking about. He rubbed her back as she began to cry again. He sat silently for a while, holding her closely as she sobbed - her tears soaking through is robes, but he didn't care.

"Harry," she said suddenly in a quiet voice.

Harry could feel her body shift in his arms. "Yes?" he said.

"I - I think I want to keep the baby," Ginny said. "Like, to raise it."

Harry, afraid but unsurprised by what she'd just said, pondered the idea of raising a child. They were young and still in school, which presented it's own challenges. How could they ever take care of a child while at Hogwarts? But he knew that Ginny was clever, and she could probably figure something out. And then there was the problem of Voldemort. The Second Wizard War had begun and there were dark days ahead of them. Was it right to bring a child into this crumbling horror stricken world that was on the verge of what looked to Harry to soon be the most vicious war yet? And any child of Harry's would face the same dangers that Ginny did, but about ten times worse. By keeping this child, Harry would be putting yet another life in danger. But on the other hand, wouldn't it be _good_ to bring some happiness into all of this? A baby would be good, and innocent - a shard of light amidst the darkness. And this was _Ginny's_ child. It would no doubt be beautiful, and kind, and strong, like it's mother. The world needed more people like Ginny. Harry's mind had been made. "Okay," he said.

Ginny looked up at him. "Okay?" she asked, shocked by his reaction. "You'll do this with me?"

Harry smiled down at her. "Yes Ginny, we're keeping this baby. We can do this, we'll figure it out. Together."

Ginny smiled back at him and brushed her lips gently against his. Harry his ran hand along her back as she did this, giving her shivers. Ginny pulled her mouth away from his and rested her head on his chest. "He's going to be brave, like his father."

Harry rose an eyebrow at her. "He?"

Ginny nodded. "It's a boy, I can tell."

Harry laughed. "I love you Ginny."

"I love you too," Ginny replied as she moved even closer to Harry and he wrapped his arms tightly around her torso, resting his hands on her stomach. _In a few months, _he thought to himself, _I'll be a father_. Ginny and Harry fell asleep in eachothe'rs arms and remained in the Room of Requirement all night.


	5. Secret

Secret

Harry awoke the next morning and checked his watch to find that he only had about ten minutes to get to class. Ginny was sleeping peacefully against him. He didn't want to wake her, she was so beautiful whilst asleep, ... but nevertheless, they couldn't miss class, the two of them were in enough trouble as it was. He shook her shoulder gently and kissed her forehead. "Ginny," he said. "Sweetheart, wake up."

Ginny opened her eyes slowly and sat up, taking in her environment. "Where are we?" she asked.

"The Room of Requirement," Harry told her as he sat up straight and pointed his wand at his glasses which had fallen to the floor and cracked while they were asleep. "_Repairo,_" he mumbled, and a blue light shot from the wand to the lens. He put the newly repaired spectacles back on his head and the room came back into focus.

Ginny looked at him confusedly. "The Room of Requirement?" she asked. Suddenly the night before came rushing back to her. Last night when she had told him about the baby. "Harry," she said, smiling at him. She wanted to talk more about last night, and about their future, but it then occurred to her that it was a weekday. "What time is it?" she asked.

"It's eight fifty," he said. "Now come on, we've got to get to class."

Ginny hurriedly jumped up and headed for the door, followed closely by Harry, who stopped her just as she was about to turn the handle. He wrapped an arm around her waist and spun her to face him. She felt shivers run down her spine as he gently caressed her cheek, and pulled her in to kiss her sweetly. She kept the kiss going for longer than either of them had expected, and before they knew it they only had five minutes until the first bell rang. The two of them ran, hand in hand, toward Gryffindor tower to change clothes so that no one would notice that they hadn't come back to their dorms the night before. "Wattlebird," Harry said to the Fat Lady, and the portrait swung open. They could hear the portrait yelling after them, scolding them for nearly being late for class. Harry ran up to his dorm and Ginny ran up to hers and they met back up in the common room just in time to hear the bell ring, telling them they should already be in their classes.

Harry sighed. "Well, we're already late, no use rushing now," he said, taking Ginny by the hand and leading her to the portrait hole, but allowing her to exit by herself, as he knew how much she hated being assisted with this. He met her on the outside and they rejoined hands.

"Delinquents!" The Fat Lady called after them. "Late for class, you are! And I don't seem to recall either of you _coming back_ last night!" Harry and Ginny ignored her and continued down the hall towards the stairs.

"S'pose we should tell people," Harry said as they waited for a moving staircase to reach their landing. "At least the important people. You know, Dumbledore, your parents, Hermione and Ron..."

Ginny cringed. She was _not _looking forward to telling her family that she was pregnant. Her parents would be disappointed, and her brothers would absolutely murder Harry when they found out. "Why don't we keep this our little secret for a while," Ginny suggested. "We don't need to tell anyone yet... and Hermione already knows."

"What?" Harry asked; shocked by this news. They were standing on a new landing, waiting for a staircase again. "She knew before I did?"

Ginny blushed. "She figured it out, Harry. She knew before _I_ did."

Harry laughed at this. Of course Hermione figured it out. "Well that's one down. And I guess we _could_ keep it a secret for a little while. But we should still tell Dumbledore, and you need to see a doctor."

"Okay," she said. "So we'll talk to Dumbledore tonight, and I'll head straight to Madame Pomfrey after that."

"I'll come with you," Harry said. "For both." They had arrived at Ginny's Charms class. "I'll see you later," he said, and he planted a kiss on her lips.

"We love you," Ginny said, placing a her hand on her stomach.

Harry smiled and placed his hand on her stomach as well. "I love you too," he said, kissing Ginny on the cheek. "Both of you." And with that Harry headed to the dungeons for his Potions class, and the couple parted ways.

Keeping things quite quiet was a surprisingly easier task than Harry and Ginny had expected. No one seemed to be suspicious of anything yet, and Harry was glad of this because though he wasn't exactly a bad liar, he didn't enjoy doing it, especially when it was with Ron. Unfortunately, he was the only person he actually _had_ had to lie to when he'd asked Harry where he was the night before and this morning. Harry had shrugged his shoulders and told him that he'd simply come to bed very late had woken up very early the next morning. Hermione gave Harry a look that communicated exactly what she wanted to ask him, and Harry nodded. Hermione gave him a sympathetic smile.

The school day went by quite quickly and moderately well, other than when Professor Snape had taken twenty points from Gryffindor for Harry's tardiness. Ginny had sat with Harry, Ron, and Hermione at lunch and lied to her brother when he asked her where she'd been all of last day. "Doing extra credit work with Professor Flitwick," she'd said dismissively.

"Blymie," Ron said. "Hermione really _has_ rubbed off on you.

A few minutes later saw Ginny and Harry standing outside the entrance to Dumbledore's office holding hands. The mage had changed the password since the last time Harry was around for his lessons, because of which, the young couple was reduced to listing all the sweets and confections they knew of in order to guess the latest password. Suddenly the gargoyle jumped aside revealing Professor McGonagall on the other side looking at them with a bemused expression on her face. "Potter, Weasley," she said to each of her students with a nod. "What are the two of you doing here?"

"We need to speak to Professor Dumbledore," Harry answered.

"Well obviously," she said Professor McGonagall with a hint of dry humour colouring her voice. "But what about?"

Ginny and Harry exchanged a look. "I'm... sure Dumbledore will tell you soon enough," Ginny said.

McGonagall rose an eyebrow at the couple. 'This should be good' she thought. Sniffing, she said "Carry on," and then passed the students to wherever it was that she was headed towards.

Harry looked at Ginny. "Are you ready?" he asked.

Ginny sighed, "As I'll ever be."

"Close enough," Harry said as he pulled her by the hand toward the still open entrance to Dumbledore's office. The two of them moved slowly onto the moving spiral staircase which carried them upwards to their fate. Ginny could feel her heart pounding faster and harder with every step that she took as they slowly approached the door. Before she knew it, they were standing outside the door staring at the Griffin knocker. Ginny felt as though her heart may jump right out of her chest as she watched Harry who was just about to knock. Before he could do so, however, they heard Dumbledore call for them to come in. They stepped into the office.

Dumbledore, who obviously had been doing some sort of paper work before they'd shown up, looked up from his work and pushed a jumble of papers aside. Dumbledore obviously had been about to start something which was evident as they saw him put down a quill as he placed a sheet of parchment on top of a pile next to him on the desk. He gestured for Ginny and Harry to come over to the desk. "You'll have to excuse me for the mess," he said, gesturing to the pile of paperwork. "I've been rather busy lately, of course." He pointed his wand at the messy pile and it instantly became a neat and orderly stack. He looked up at Harry and Ginny, who were standing uncomfortably in front of him. "Well go ahead and sit," he told them. They obliged. "So," he said, glancing from Harry to Ginny, then back to Harry. "What did you wish to speak with me about?"

Ginny shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked at Harry. "We um," she began.

"We have something to tell you," Harry finished for her. "And you're not going to like it..."

Dumbledore leaned forward. "Won't I now?"

"Probably not," Harry said, glancing at Ginny to see how she was reacting. She looked a complete wreck to Harry, but this was only because he knew her so well. Ginny was skilled at keeping her composure. So to anyone else she probably looked calm and collected, with only the slightest hint of nervousness.

"I think I'll be the judge of that Harry," the Headmaster said, He looked at Ginny. Dumbledore was quite experienced at reading people and was thus able to see through the front of false bravado the schoolgirl in front of him was putting up. He softened his voice as he spoke to her, careful not to upset her any further. "Miss Weasley, would you like to tell me what exactly this news is that, according to you, I won't like?"

At the headmaster's kindly voice, the composed expression on Ginny's face came crashing down, making the look of distress on her face plain to see. She tried to speak but found the words catching in her throat. The news of her pregnancy was still new to _her, _and telling someone who wasn't Harry was absolutely nerve-wracking. But she had to tell Dumbledore somehow. So, desperate to get her point across, she rose a shaking hand to her stomach and placed it flat on top, glancing quickly at Harry. Harry squeezed her free hand and looked at Dumbledore, holding his eye contact for a while. Though no words had actually been exchanged by anyone in the room, Dumbledore understood exactly what Ginny was trying to say. "I see," he said, still holding eye contact with Harry. He sat back in his chair and looked back to Ginny. "And the child is Mr. Potter's?" he asked her.

Ginny nodded. Dumbledore looked back at Harry. "And you are sure of this," Dumbledore asked.

Harry, frankly rather surprised that Dumbledore would question Ginny's faithfulness to him, nodded stiffly. "Positive," he said.

Dumbledore thought for a moment. Noticing the hurt look on Ginny's face, he added, "That was by no means a slight against you," he insisted. "I just needed to be sure." He continued in his contemplating. "And the two of you are aware of your options?" he asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "And we've decided to keep it."

Dumbledore nodded again in understanding. "And I assume that you are both aware of the dangers that a child of yours, Harry, would face during times such as this, as well as the dangerous position it puts you, Ginny, in to be carrying such a child?"

"I'm fully aware," Ginny said. It was the first clear thing she'd said since they'd entered the office. "And though I worry for the safety of the baby, I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out. And as for me," she said in a firm voice. "I'm willing to risk it."

Dumbledore thought some more, and Harry could almost see him working through things in his head. Harry squeezed Ginny's hand more tightly and she smiled at him. Finally, Dumbledore spoke again. "And now of course there is the matter of how the two of you will be continuing your educations while raising the child. We've never had this happen before at Hogwarts, so we aren't exactly equipped to take care of infants or your children, however, I suppose we could assign a dormitory to the two of you to share with the child, and assign a house elf to act as a babysitter for you while you're at class. Harry, you only have one year left of school, and after that point I'm sure you two could move into a home in the village, and Ginny could be a day girl, Flooing here for the classes and then going back home at the end of the day, seeing as you can't Apparate here. Though it would probably be more convenient for you to all stay here while Ginny's still in school; Harry I could give you a temporary job working for Hogwarts until she graduates, and then you'd be able to remain living here..."

Harry was shocked. They could _stay_? He'd assumed that they would have to drop out; never in his dreams did he think that Dumbledore would be offering him a _job_.

"Well?" Dumbledore asked. "How does that sound?"

Ginny, shocked but relieved, nearly jumped for joy. "That sounds wonderful," she said. "Just wonderful."

Dumbledore smiled at her. "And finally there's the matter of telling your parents. Harry, considering the usual attitude of your aunt and uncle I assume a letter would be enough?"

"Yes," he said. "They won't care. They've never cared much about what I do."

Dumbledore turned to Ginny. "Now Ginny, your family is a different story. It would be best to tell them in person, don't you think?"

"I... I suppose so," she said.

"Good," said Dumbledore. "I'll send them a letter saying that you need to see them, and they can Floo up here next week." Ginny cringed. "And have you seen Madame Pomfrey about this yet?" he asked. Ginny shook her head. "Well, you best be doing that soon, then," Dumbledore said. "It's getting late." Anxious to get out and talk about what had just happened, Ginny and Harry leapt out of their seats. "We'll talk about this again," Dumbledore said.

Harry smiled at him. "Thank you Professor," he said. Ginny thanked him as well.

"Any time," Dumbledore replied with a smile that reassured the couple. As soon as Harry and Ginny had left his office, he sighed and eyed the stack of parchment in front of him before picking up his quill and with another sigh, pulling the stack in front of him, idly wishing that he could just put the stack under Fawkes' perch when the phoenix was about to have a burning day and forget about it.

Harry wrapped his arm around Ginny's waist and guided her out of the room. "I... I can't believe it..." Ginny said.

"I know," Harry agreed, "This is crazy." And they made their way to the hospital wing together.


	6. Suspicions

**Hey readers! Wow, your guys' comments are awesome, I love you guys. So to all of you who have given me suggestions on how to improve my story and pointed out corrections I could make, I say thank you, and I'm working on it. Also, in response to all the questions about what will happen when Harry is fighting Horcruxes and all the Voldemort stuff is going down, I say only this; (devilish smile) you'll see. But, just to clear up some of the accuracy issues, feel I should remind you that this is intended to be a spin off, not a retelling. I do plan on changing things. Wow! You read my whole A/N! Thanks! Lol, Hope you like this chapter.**

Suspicions 

It was a very cold Thursday morning, and Ron, who was particularly sensitive to low temperatures, started his day by rolling out of bed, pulling on the jumper his mother had made him for Christmas and muttering to Harry - who was just getting out of bed, himself - that it was, "Bloody freezing."

Harry had agreed, but refused to make eye contact with him. This greatly bothered Ron. Harry had been acting strange lately; disappearing after classes, making excuses not to talk to him, exchanging weird looks with Hermione, and above all, being _way _too touchy-feely with Ginny. Of course, Ron had always felt uncomfortable seeing any kind of physical affection between his best friend and his little sister, but they were being worse than usual lately. Furthermore, they were always sneaking off to places, or coming back from places together and telling unconvincing stories about where they had been or where they were going.

It had started on Monday of last week, when Ron had seen them coming back from the Hospital Wing together, and Ron, anxious to know why they were there, had run up to them to ask what was wrong. They'd both had kind of dreamy; half-scared , half-giddy looks on their faces, and Ginny had told him that she'd been hit by a rebounded curse in a Defence Against the Dark Arts class and Harry had escorted her to the Hospital Wing to be healed. Ron could tell that they were lying, but he couldn't imagine why. What was there to lie about when it came to The Hospital Wing? That was when Ron had started noticing the weird behaviour.

So between all their sudden disappearances, the weird way they were acting, and of course the lying - Ron was becoming rather suspicious. if If it had been any other couple, Ron would have assumed that they were having sex, but of course, he knew that they weren't. Not Harry and Ginny, they couldn't be. He shuddered at the thought. His best friend and his sister... he generally tried to ignore the knowledge that they were even dating, but this? He didn't even want to _think _that there was any chance that they could be having... _No, no, no! _Ron thought to himself. They weren't, there was no question about it, it wasn't happening. End of story. But they _were_ lying about _something_, Ron just couldn't think of what. Well one thing was certain, he was going to find out.

"For the last time Ronald, I have no idea why Harry or Ginny would be lying to you!" Hermione said. She really wasn't lying, she _didn't_ understand why they couldn't just tell him. He was bound to find out eventually.

"Come _on_ Hermione, you must know _something_."

"I don't!" She said, looking extremely annoyed that he kept pestering her. They sat alone on a couch in Gryffindor tower. The common room was empty as the rest of their housemates had already headed for dinner.

Ron sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for bothering you," he said. "It's just that I don't want to be kept out of the loop."

"We're not keeping you out of any loop," she said. "And besides," she added, "If you're really that interested in the matters of Harry and Ginny, then why don't you just ask one of _them_?"

Ron thought about it for a moment and finally gave in, deciding that he wouldn't be getting any information from Hermione tonight no matter how much he bothered her. "I s'pose you're right," he said. He leaned in so that his face was just inches from hers. "We can stop talking about them if you want. Or we can stop talking in general." He leaned in even more and pressed his lips against hers. Hermione smiled as he did this, and she kissed him back. Ron, happy that she was actually in the mood to kiss - as she rarely had been in the last week, what with his constantly badgering her - laced his fingers in her light brown hair and deepened the kiss further.

"Wait - we - should - be - heading - to - dinner," she said between partings of their lips.

"Screw dinner," Ron said, breathing heavily.

Hermione laughed. "Fine," she said. "We can stay here. But we are _not_ having sex... Tonight or any time soon."

"Of course," Ron said, knowing that this was something his girlfriend was quite firm about. "Wouldn't dream of it."

Hermione laughed again. "Well _that's _a lie," she said, referring to his claim to not even dream of having his way with her. She knew as well as he did that he fantasized... a lot.

"Of course it was," he said. "I meant I wouldn't pressure you."

"Oh. Well good," She said. "I mean we wouldn't want to end up in Harry and Ginny's situation." She thought aloud without realizing it.

Ron, who was nearly on top of her now, pulled away. "What situation?"

Hermione gasped and placed her hand over her mouth, realizing what she'd just said. Oh Merlin! Had she said that out loud? What had she just done? "I mean..."

"What situation, Hermione?" Ron demanded.

"Nothing darling," Hermione said, cringing at the what she'd just called him. Ron now seemed determined, and she knew she would have to do some sort of damage control. She lunged toward him, trying to pull a seductive smile, but failing for lack of experience. "Ronald, kiss me!" She yelled, planting kissed kisses all over his face.

Ron pulled away. "Don't try to distract me!" he said.

"I'm not trying to do anything!" Hermione said defensively. "I'm just trying to... to..."

"Distract me," Ron said for her. "Now what's going on with Ginny and Harry? I know you know something."

Hermione, trying to think fast, grabbed Ron by the shoulders and pulled him onto her. "Let's not talk about them, it's not important. I've changed my mind, make love to me right here on this couch!"

Ron rose his eyebrows as if considering it. He shook his head. "You're bluffing," he said. "You know as well as I do that that won't be happening tonight. Now tell me what's going on."

Hermione sighed. Well _that_ was a humiliating waste of effort. "Look," she said. "I said it before and I'll say it again. Ask one of _them_."

Ron wasn't listening to anything she was saying now, he'd finally pieced two and two together, and he was absolutely fuming. "They're having sex aren't they?" He yelled. Hermione didn't say anything; her mouth opened and closed as if she meant to say something but couldn't think of what. "THAT BASTARD!"

"Ron, he's your best friend!'

"And she's my little sister! He's shagging my little sister! I'm gonna kill him..."

"Ron, be reasonable," Hermione said, reaching to grab his arm.

Ron pulled it away. "Be reasonable? THAT PEICE OF SHIT IS FUCKING MY SISTER! MY BEST FRIEND! HE'S TAKING ADVANTAGE OF MY LITTLE SISTER!"

"I wouldn't say taking advantage of..."

"What?"

"Well, I mean, she seems to be rather enjoying it..."

"Enjoying it? Hermione, she's FIFTEEN! She doesn't know what she's doing! She's just a kid!"

"Ron," Hermione said, still trying to calm him. "She's only a year younger than us. Now please calm down, you're scaring me."

Ron's face was screwed up in anger, and his eyes were filled with hate, and he was about to shout something along the lines of 'how dare she tell him to calm down', but seeing that she did look legitimately scared, he lowered his voice and tried to calm himself somewhat, though he still spoke through clenched teeth. "How long?" he asked, the anger still obvious in his voice, but at least he wasn't shouting anymore.

Hermione thought for a moment. She did the math in her head. If Ginny had been two weeks late, and that was almost two weeks ago, and the baby had likely been conceived at some point over the winter break... "I guess about two months."

"TWO MONTHS?"

"Ron!" she shouted. "Calm _down_!"

Ron, now shaking with anger, took a deep breath. Somehow in his silent anger, he seemed almost _more_ frightening. "So this is what they've been hiding... all the lying, and the disappearing... this is their big secret."

"Well, not exactly..." Hermione said hesitantly.

Ron looked at her expectantly. "There's _more_?"

"Well, I wasn't supposed to tell you so I'll just try to help you figure it out. Think about it Ron, Ginny's been acting weird lately, hasn't she? And you said you saw them leaving the Hospital Wing together last week? Think about it."

On any other occasion Ron probably would have figured this out quite quickly, but right now his head was spinning and all he could think of was that his sister and best friend had betrayed him. He'd _trusted_ them and they'd gone and done _this_! "What are you getting at?" He growled.

"Don't you get it?" She asked. Ron stared at blankly, still fuming. "God, you're taking almost as long to get this as Ginny did..."

"Get what?" Ron shouted.

Hermione sighed. "She's pregnant Ronald."

It was at that exact moment that Harry and Ginny had made the mistake of entering the common room, looking for Hermione and Ron.


	7. So Much for Secrets

So Much For Secrets

Ron's fist connected with Harry's face, square in the centre, breaking his nose. Harry staggered backward. Ginny and Hermione screamed, and Harry was in in the middle of saying, "What the hell Ron?" when his best friend grabbed him by the collar and threw him to the floor. He continued to punch Harry multiple times in the face until Hermione and Ginny managed pull the enraged redhead back. "Let go of me!" he hollered, ripping himself out of their grasps. Harry used a table to pull himself up, wiped some of the blood off of his face, and stared at Ron.

"Ron," he said in an oddly calm voice. _Well obviously this secret's been blown_, he thought.

"Don't even talk to me!" He shouted. "I know what you did! I know what you did to _her_!" He pointed to Ginny.

"Ron, let's talk about this."

"Talk? Harry, YOU KNOCKED UP MY LITTLE SISTER!"

"Ron, I understand why this upsets you but-"

"UPSETS ME? YOU THINK I'M THIS JUST _UPSETS _ME? FIRST I FIND OUT THAT MY SUPPOSED _BEST FRIEND_ IS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF MY LITTLE SISTER, AND THEN I FIND OUT THAT HE GOT HER **PREGNANT**! UPSET? I'M _LIVID, _AND I'M GONNA GONNA RIP YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!" He lunged for Harry, who managed to hop away just in time. Harry put his hands in front of his face to block Ron's fists from hitting him again. They continued to jump around the room, Ron throwing punches, and Harry trying to defend himself.

"This is madness!" Hermione shouted. The girls ran after their boyfriends, trying to pull them away from each other.

"Ron - get - off - of - him," Ginny said, trying to pull her brother away from Harry. He ignored her and continued to throw is fists in Harry's direction. "Ron," she said again. He continued to ignore her as if she weren't even there. This was starting to bother Ginny greatly. "RON!" she shouted. Ron paused for a moment. When she was speaking in that sort of volume, it was hard to ignore her. "Ron, could I just _say_ something?"

"Ginny, you're too young for this, you don't know what you're talking about," Ron said dismissively, barely turning to look at her whilst still glaring at Harry in a face that Harry had never seen Ron make before in the entire time that he'd known him.

"I am _not_ too young!" Ginny screamed with enough power that anyone who didn't know it was her would have thought that her voice had belonged to a giant. Ron turned around in shock. The immense power and volume of her voice was almost unreal. "Do I have your _attention_ now _Ron_?" She snipped, her voice still blooming with power. Each of her words ended with a bit of a clip to them. Ron nodded at her dazedly. "Good," her voice was now quiet and calm, but it still had the clip to it. "_Firstly," _she said, making firm eye contact with him._ "_I don't want to hear any more of this rubbish about Harry taking advantage of me. It was one hundred percent my choice-"

"Ginny, you're fifteen," Ron interjected. "There's no way you made that choice without him pressuring you too-"

"Do _not _interrupt me!" She said, her voice booming again. Ron quieted instantly; legitimately scared of the small girl standing before him. "And if you must know Ronald," she said, her voice once again back to normal, "_I _seduced_ him_."

Ron was stammering in disbelief of what he was hearing.

"_Furthermore_," she said powerfully, "I am _not _a child. In fact I'm _carrying _a child. So I would appreciate it if you would not _trea_t me like one. And _finally_," She raised her voice on the last word to prevent Ron from interrupting her again. "You know just as well as I do that you would never want to do harm to Harry, he's like a brother to you, and you'll regret all this later, so stop acting all tough and cut the crap."

The room was completely silent. Every one stared at Ginny - who was just radiating strength - in complete disbelief. Where had _that_ come from? "Ginny, I... you... my little sister..." Ron tried to say.

Ginny lowered her voice to a soft tone finally and her strange powerful demeanour came down faster than it had even come on. She moved to stand right in front of her baffled brother. "Ron," she said, looking up at him. "I'm not a little girl anymore. You don't need to protect me."

"B-but-"

"Harry loves me," she said. "And I love him, and we're _going _to have this baby together. But as happy as that makes me I know that that means hard times ahead of us. We need all the support we can get right now, and I know we won't be able to get through this without you, so I'm asking you Ron, as you're your little sister, to stand by me, and to stand by Harry."

Harry stared hopefully at Ron who was looking down at Ginny. For such a small girl, she seemed extremely large in the power that she was displaying. Ron huffed and looked from Harry back to his little sister, as if deciding upon something. Finally, in a low, strained voice he said. "I'll do that for you," he paused. "As your brother." ," He turned around and made his way toward Harry. They stared silently at each other, as if mentally deciding if there was going to be another fight. "And... and I guess..." He mumbled. Harry looked at him pleadingly. The last thing he wanted was to lose Ron as his best friend. "And I guess I'll stand by you too," he said reluctantly. "After all you are my best mate."

Harry smiled and reached out to shake Ron's hand. "So, we're good then?"

Ron paused in hesitation, then took Harry's hand and shook it, saying, "We're good."

Hermione rolled her eyes and whispered to Ginny that she didn't understand what it was about boys and their aversion to hugging. Ginny laughed at this and she placed a hand on her stomach, rubbing it softly.

"Blymie," Ron said, looking at Harry's bloody, mangled face. "I really did go hard on you, didn't I?"

"Er - yeah," Harry said.

"Sorry 'bout that mate, but you get it, right?"

"I totally understand," Harry said, happy to have his friend back.

"Right then," Ron said. "Best be getting Harry to the Hospital Wing."

Harry and Ron sat alone in the hospital wing. Ginny and Hermione had gone to bed, but Ron, feeling bad about what he'd done - just was Ginny had predicted, insisted on staying with Harry until his whole face had healed completely, which Madame Pomfrey had said would only take a few hours if Harry drank all his potions. "I s'pose you'll be marrying her, then," Ron said suddenly, completely out of the blue.

"What?" Harry asked, wincing at the pain he felt in his jaw when he spoke. He took another sip of his bone healing potion. His nose was starting to feel almost normal again,

"Ginny," Ron said. "I mean, she's having your baby and all, you're going to marry her aren't you?"

Harry laughed. "If I could," he said, "I would marry Ginny today, baby or not. But you know your sister, strong willed. She won't marry me just because she's having my child. She'll want to be convinced."

Ron chuckled, "And besides," he said. "It's nearly eleven o'clock at night. It'd be a ruddy time to have a wedding."

Harry laughed again, happy that Ron seemed to have regained his good humour. "But between you and me," he said. "I'm planning on asking her pretty soon."

Ron nodded in approval. He smiled suddenly. "I just realized," he said. "That'll make us brothers."

"I guess it will."

Ron sat quietly for a moment, as if thinking about something. "Was she right?" He asked. "Ginny, when she'd said that you loved her. Was she right? Do you love her?"

Harry looked at him seriously, but smiled at the same time. "More than anything else in the whole world," He he said.

Ron smiled as well. "Good," he said. There was a long silence again. "And if you if marry her," he added, "Treat her well, will you?

Harry nodded. "I'll do my best."

**Oh, I know, another short chapter. Sorry, I promise the next one will be longer. **


	8. Meetings

**Thank you so much for all the amazing reviews on the last chapter guys! It means a lot to me. Also, shout out to DukeBrymin and** **xXGred-ForgeXx for commenting on every single chapter. You are just the best kind of people. :D**

Meetings

Ginny stepped got out of bed on Saturday morning with a heavy feeling of dread on her chest. She was _not_ looking forward to seeing her parents today and breaking the news to them. She knew that they would be extremely disappointed, but she took comfort in the fact the worst, at least, was over. They'd just told Ron the day before last, and seeing as Harry was still alive and mostly well (thanks to mad amounts of healing potions), she figured today would be somewhat easier than she'd originally predicted.

As Ginny made her way down the stairs to the common room, she noticed that she wasn't feeling particularly nauseous that morning. She smiled, hoping that the worst of her symptoms, too, were behind her. She saw Harry coming down the stairs from the boys' dorm, along with Ron. The two of them were talking animatedly about something. She was happy that they seemed to be getting along again, though they all knew that it was going to be a while before Ron was really okay with all of this. She met up with them at the bottom of the stairs. "Morning," she said.

"Morning," Harry replied with a yawn. "How are you feeling today?"

"Better," she said. "The nausea's starting to fade."

"Nausea?" Ron asked.

"Morning sickness," Harry told him.

"Oh," Ron said uncomfortably.

Ginny sighed. "Today's the day," she commented miserably.

"Look at the bright side," Harry smiled at her and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "After this we're done telling people." Ginny took comfort in this. They'd decided that once all the important people knew, there was really no need for more announcements, everyone else would find out when they found out.

Harry had told his Aunt and Uncle the news about a week earlier in a short letter that had said, _'Not that you'll care, but my Headmaster _insists_ that I inform you that in a few months I will be a father. - Harry' _to which they had yet to respond, which Harry assumed was due to the fact they probably hadn't bothered to read the letter, or even allow the owl to come close enough to their house to deliver it, for that matter. It didn't bother him though, he'd expected this much. But he admittedly dreaded telling the Weasleys.

Hermione soon met up with Ron, Harry, and Ginny, and the four of them headed down to breakfast. Ginny found that she was unable to eat much, but rather than owing to her usual nausea, it was instead because she was simply too nervous. She didn't understand what it was that was making her so antsy, she knew that they wouldn't react nearly as badly as Ron, but she supposed the difference was that now she was anticipating it. If there was one thing Ginny hated almost as much as the Dark Lord himself, it was waiting for something unpleasant to happen.

Harry took notice of her obvious nerves, and held her hand under the table. He felt bad for her; all his life his 'family' had treated him like rubbish anyways, and they'd never expected anything good of him, so he didn't really feel like he was letting anyone down. Ginny, however, had a close relationship with her family, and he supposed that the thought of disappointing them like this was simply killing her. "It's okay, sweetheart," he whispered to her as she was staring sadly at an untouched pile of scrambled eggs. When Ginny responded only with a nod, Harry moved a little closer to her and began to rub her back soothingly. "Everything will be fine," he said in a calm, reassuring voice. "I love you." He kissed her on the forehead and pulled away.

Ron was staring down at his plate, and stabbing things with his fork repeatedly, whilst making a point of avoiding eye contact with his best friend.

"Sorry," Harry said, realizing that although things had _technically_ been made right before, he and Ginny would certainly have to tread lightly around Ron for a while.

"It'll just take some getting used to," Ron mumbled, picking up a piece of toast. "I mean I was only just getting used to the fact that you guys were dating."

"I know," Harry said. "And I'm sorry that this feels so weird for you."

"S'okay," Ron said, sighing heavily and taking a bite of his toast. "Like I said, I'll get over it, . I just need time to get used to this whole thing." Hermione rubbed his shoulder comfortingly.

Harry and Ginny sat anxiously in Dumbledore's office, sort of huddled together in their chairs as Ginny clutched Harry's hands tightly, and Harry whispered reassuring things to her. On the opposite side of the room, Dumbledore sat at his desk, going over paperwork work once again. They were all waiting for Mr and Mrs Weasley. An owl had been sent to them the morning prior, saying only that both of Ginny's parents needed to come to Hogwarts so she could speak with them in person about something rather important. Mr and Mrs Weasley had sent back a reply almost immediately saying that they would be coming over on Saturday afternoon.

The fire in Dumbledore's fireplace suddenly turned green, and Molly Weasley stepped out, flattening her dress, and looking around worriedly. Her Husband followed directly after her. Ginny and Harry stood up to meet them.

"Welcome Molly, Arthur," Dumbledore greeted them as he rose from his desk.

"Well, Hello, Albus," Molly smiled.

"It's good to see you," Arthur added.

"Always a pleasure," Dumbledore said with a twinkling smile.

Seemingly remembering her reason for being here, Molly spun on her heals heels to face Ginny and Harry. "Ginny," she said, nearly running over to her. She nearly pushed Harry away in her effort to get as close to her daughter as possible. "Oh, sorry dear," she mumbled to him. She inspected her daughters face for signs of some sort of injury or sickness. "Honey, what's wrong?" she asked in a comfortingly maternal tone. Arthur now stood behind her.

"I think that now it would be appropriate for me to give you some time to yourselves," Dumbledore said as he made his way toward the door.

"Thank you Professor Dumbledore," Harry called after him. Dumbledore just waved dismissively as he exited his office. The door shut behind them, and they were alone.

Molly was still trying to find something wrong with her daughter, but couldn't see anything. "Ginny," she said, backing to a regular distance now. "What's wrong? Why have you called us?"

Ginny didn't answer, as she found that for the hundredth time that month, words wouldn't come to her. "Mr and Mrs Weasley," Harry started, but he was interrupted by Ginny suddenly beginning to cry.

Molly leaned in and hugged her daughter, holding her closely. "Shh, darling," she said. "Shh, it's all right." Molly, having raised seven children, was quite experienced in comforting people.

"Mum," she said. "Mum, I've... I've got to tell you something."

She pulled away from her daughter, still leaving a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Yes, what is it dear?" Molly and Arthur stared at their only daughter expectantly.

Ginny still could not answer. Harry shot her a look of encouragement, which Molly caught with the sharp all-seeing eyes that only a mother could have. She looked from Harry back to Ginny inquisitively. She then proceeded to look her daughter up and down, taking in every feature, until she was finally staring straight at her daughter's nervous, tear stained face again. Molly's eyes went wide and she gasped. "You're pregnant," she said in a shocked voice.

"What?" Arthur asked, nearly falling backwards. Ginny was his little girl. There was no way she was pregnant, just no way. "Molly, how could you possibly know...?"

"I'm her mother Arthur," Molly said, still staring at Ginny is disbelief. "I know when my own daughter is pregnant. And besides," she added, "I've been pregnant six times. I'd say I've become somewhat of an expert at spotting it."

"She doesn't look..." Arthur said, trying to grasp some reason to doubt his wife's theory. Harry and Ginny's silence wasn't helping much either.

"Yes she does," Molly said. "Look at the size of her breasts."

"I'd rather not..."

Molly ignored her husband. "And look at her hips, rounding already. She's pregnant Arthur. Our little girl is pregnant."

Ginny collapsed back into her mother's arms. "I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm sorry. We didn't mean to... it just happened..."

"There, there," Molly said, smoothing Ginny's hair and dabbing away a few of her own tears. "No need to apologize."

Ginny sniffed and looked up at her. "You're- you're not mad?"

Molly sighed. "Well I'm not extremely pleased," she said, darting a look at Harry that silently said 'especially with you'. "But what's happened has happened, and all we can do now is make the best of it. I mean I _have_ always wanted grandchildren, of course I thought that I would be getting them from one of your brothers, particularly Bill, before you... but nevertheless, this is good news, let's treat it that way."

Ginny, glad of her parents' support, went on to tell them about Dumbledore's offer, and how they would raise the baby. She also told her about Ron's reaction, which her father found quite amusing while his wife did not, saying that it it was, "Extremely inappropriate and a terrible way of showing support to a family member in need." She was extremely shocked when Ginny had told her about the hours Harry had spent in the Hospital Wing afterwards, and his broken nose. She's gasped. "Are you alright now dear?"

"I'm fine," Harry insisted. "I s'pose I deserved it anyways.

Molly didn't fight him on this, but she also didn't agree. "It was inappropriate," she reiterated. "So how far along are you?" she asked, turning back to Ginny.

"About two months," she said. "Madame Pomfrey says the baby's thriving, growing just as it should be."

"Well that's good," Molly said. "Harry, you haven't said much," she added. "How do you feel about this whole thing?"

Harry smiled and grabbed Ginny's hand. "Well, I was afraid at first but the more I think about it - about becoming a father, and taking care of the baby, and the whole aspect of Ginny being the mother of my child - the more I realize that this really is a good thing. This baby, though it may be coming earlier than we planned, is exactly what we needed in times like this. It will be a good thing amidst the evil, light amidst the dark. This baby represents hope." Harry recited his thought from when Ginny had told him that she was pregnant.

Ginny squeezed his hand tightly and smiled at him. They were going to be okay.


	9. Rumours

**So just a few quick notes, the thing about Fred and George's birthday is true, I looked it up just in case, oh and the Parseltongue spoken in this chapter is official. PM me/review this chapter and ask, and I'll tell you how to get it, and what they said. **

Rumours 

Lord Voldemort sat in a wing-backed chair, staring into to the fire. "Ssssya har sahsiii," he hissed at Nagini, who was coiled on the floor next to him. "Hee saharrr saagh."

A door opened slowly at the back of the room. Lucius Malfoy entered, bowing slightly as he did so. "My Lord," he said respectfully as he made his way to where Voldemort sat.

"Lucius," The Dark Lord said in a hissing voice. "I assume you've brought news for me?"

"Yes, my lord," Lucius replied, bowing again. Voldemort stared at him expectantly. "My boy," he said. "Draco, the one you've assigned to-"

"I know what I've assigned him to do!" Voldemort snapped. "Now what about him?" His voice was eerily smooth again.

"He's told me news from Hogwarts..."

"I've no interest in idle schoolboy issues," Voldemort said. "So if that's all..."

"You'll want to hear this," Lucius insisted.

Voldemort sighed and stared at him darkly. "I'm waiting."

"Well, of course you're aware that the Potter boy is romantically involved with a girl from his school. A Weasley, I believe-"

"Lucius, we've spoken of this before, and we've decided that that attacking the girl would be a waste of time at the moment. Her and her filthy blood-traitor family are-"

"No, my Lord, you don't understand, she's-"

"You _dare_ interrupt me?" The Dark Lord shouted. "I am your master Lucius, and you will remember your place!"

"Y-yes m-my lord. Yes, of c-c-course."

"Now, if all you bring me is useless information, I advise you to leave before I change my mind about my courtesy toward you."

"Wait, my Lord, this is not what I've come to tell you."

"Then what _is _it Malfoy? If you continue to waste my time-"

"She carries his child," Lucius said with an accomplished grin on his face. "Harry Potter is to have an heir."

**xxx  
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"Did you hear?"

"Ginny Weasley is _pregnant_!"

"It's Harry Potter's baby!"

"...heard she slipped him a love potion..."

"An' Dumbledore's lettin' 'em stay at the school..."

"...thought she was just fat..."

"...always knew she was a slut."

Whispered gossip spread around the school at unimaginable rates. Two months had passed since she'd broken the news to her family and things had been kept quite hushed for a while, but now, as the warm spring sun began to shine through the dying winter overcast and Ginny's stomach began to round with child, she could no longer hide her state from the public eye.

When she'd started to show a few weeks earlier, it had been so minor that it could be easily concealed under baggy jumpers. Now, however, her bump had become quite visible, and the jumper technique no longer worked. Besides, it was becoming rather too hot to be constantly clad in heavy wool garments. Ginny now had no choice of clothing options other than her tight school uniform which only accentuated her bump as it's black fabric stretched to accommodate her growing middle area.

"Is it true Potter?" Malfoy asked Harry in Defence Against The Dark Arts class on the first day of April. "Did you really knock up that Weasley girl?" Harry ignored him. Malfoy laughed. "Everyone's talking about it. Are you sure it's yours though? Personally I can't see you being man enough to get anyone pregnant. Maybe the little whore was-"

"She is _not_ a whore," Harry snapped at him.

Draco laughed. "Sensitive are we Potter? I told my father about your little scandal. He reckons she did it on purpose for the fame. But I think he's wrong. I think for any girl to do _that_ with _you_, you must have hexed her." Ron returned to the table then, carrying a textbook he'd gone to borrow from Seamus, since he and Harry had both managed to forget theirs. "Oh hello Weasley, Harry and I were just taking about your slut of a sister." Malfoy hissed maliciously.

At this Ron dropped the book, causing it to fall open on the floor. His usual dewy grin disappeared instantly and his hands became fists. His face was almost as red as his hair and he was about to shout a vulgar retaliation at Malfoy when Professor Snape approached them.

"Do we have a problem here?" He asked.

Ron glared at Malfoy furiously. "We're fine," Harry said, keeping a steady eye on Ron, ensuring that he didn't explode.

Snape turned to Malfoy. "Mr. Malfoy, for your own safety I suggest that you return to your seat before Mr. Weasley releases whatever rage he is holding in upon those nearest to him."

Malfoy sniggered, gave Harry and Ron a mocking glance and walked away. Snape glanced at Harry and placed his hand on Harry's and Ron's table, covering their papers. "Mr. Potter," he said. "For your own good, I would highly recommend that you keep your scandalous social life to yourself. You never know who might be listening." He raised an eyebrow at Harry and turned to walk away slowly.

Harry, not paying much attention to what Snape had said, watched Ron carefully, trying to decide if he was going to explode with anger. He looked as though he was getting pretty close. "Ron," he said hesitantly.

Ron exhaled heavily. "I'm fine," he said. Frustrated, he ran his fingers through his hair and released another heavy breath, as if trying to push the anger out. "How much time's left in this class?"

Harry checked his watch. "About five minutes." They cleaned up their supplies and returned the book to Seamus, hastily throwing together the rest of their assignment and handing it in carelessly. When the bell rang, announcing the end of classes for the day, the two friends met up with Hermione, who'd been working at a table on the other side of the room, and headed back to Gryffindor tower.

As they stepped through the portrait hole they could hear joyous and boisterous sounds from the common room.

"They're celebrating," Ron said, smiling as they entered the scene of tables of food and students socializing. It was Friday, and the last day of classes before the Easter Holidays.

"They were supposed to tell us," Hermione said, reminding Ron of their prefect duties. "We're supposed to give our approval before they have parties."

Ron shrugged. "They're just having fun," he said.

Harry, smiling at the thought of the upcoming holidays - which he'd be spending with the Weasleys, made his way to Ginny, who was sitting by the window, writing on a piece of parchment. When he approached her he placed one hand on her slightly rounded stomach and leaned down to kiss her. Ginny kissed him back and smiled. "Hi," he said with a light-hearted laugh.

"Hi to you too," said Ginny, returning the laughter. She ran a hand over her stomach.

"What're you doing?" Harry asked, pulling a chair up to sit beside her.

She shrugged and smiled, "Writing a letter to Fred and George. It's their birthday today."

Harry laughed at the irony of it. "Fred and George were born on April Fool's Day?" he asked.

Ginny giggled. "I know. It's been a running joke in my family for as long as I can remember. We can't decide if it's ironic or if they are the way they are because of it."

"Well, send them my best wishes," Harry laughed again.

Ginny nodded and scribbled something else onto the page. She then signed it with a rather extravagant signature and called for Pigwidgeon, who she'd brought down from the owlery earlier. "Take this to Fred and George," she told the bird, and it hooted excitedly and flew away. While she was still facing out the window, she felt Harry wrap his arms around her waist. He rested his chin in the crook of her neck and shoulder - leaning down a considerable amount to do so, and kissed the back of her neck. This sent a shiver up Ginny's spine. She turned around to face him and melted into his lips.

Harry could feel the ginger girl leaning against him, her larger-than-usual breasts pressed against his chest, her sexy newly-defined hips connecting with his, the hard rounding of her abdomen pressed against his own stomach, and her lips, soft as rose petals, parting to allows him entrance into her mouth. Beautiful.

Harry, nothing less than thrilled by her sudden bursts of horniness lately, wanted to deepen the kiss, but reminding himself that they were snogging in front of the entire common room, he reluctantly pulled his lips from hers. "We have all of Easter Break to be romantic," he whispered. "But for now we should probably keep it down."

Ginny sighed and released him from her embrace. "I know," she said. "I'm just a little impatient, I guess."

Harry laughed at this. "It won't be long, sweetheart," he promised her. "I love you."

Ginny gave him a peck on the cheek and took his hand to place it on her rounded middle section. "I love you too."

"Blimey Harry, what are you guys trying to do, make twins?" Seamus called humorously from somewhere behind them.

Harry and Ginny turned around to find the eyes of every Gryffindor in the room on them. Harry laughed. "Sorry," he said, wrapping his arm around Ginny's waist. "She's just so mad for me, can't keep her hands to herself," he joked.

Ginny laughed in agreement "Can't deny it," she said.

The room laughed in unison, and then fell to an abrupt silence. "So the rumours are true?" Neville asked quietly. "About the..." he pointed at Ginny's stomach.

Ginny sighed and placed her hands protectively over her abdomen. "Yes, the rumours are true," she said. "I know most of you already knew, but for those of you who thought I had just put on some weight, I guess we may as well confirm it. I _am _pregnant."

The quiet room cheered then, rushing toward Ginny and Harry to chat them up about the baby. They hadn't expected this good of a reaction; they certainly didn't get such a positive response from the rest of the school. But this was Gryffindor. It was their house, their family at school. They loved Harry and Ginny, and they would of course be supportive.

But right now, as much as he appreciated the support, all Harry could really think about was getting back to The Burrow tomorrow and finally having Ginny all to himself, where there was no one watching to stop them from doing exactly what was on their minds (other than Mrs Weasley, but they would cross that bridge when they came to it) and Harry and Ginny could, at last, have some alone time.

Ginny seconded that.


	10. Home

**Okay, it's official, I have the best readers ever. Thanks you guys, your reviews make my day :) **

Home

Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron sat together on the Hogwarts Express on their way back to King's Kings Cross Station. The Weasley family had invited Harry to join his best friend and girl friend in visiting home for the Easter Holidays, (Hermione had been invited to stay as well, but opted to visit her own parents instead, as she had already spent the Christmas Holidays with the Weasleys and she knew they'd be missing her) and Harry had gratefully accepted, not only because he was anxious to have some alone time with his beautiful pregnant girlfriend, but also because he loved her family, and was glad to have good people to spend the holidays with, as he would never dream of heading back to his 'home' in Little Winging to spend unnecessary time with his ghastly relatives.

All in all, things were looking pretty good. Harry was happy, Ginny was happy, and Ron - though upset that Hermione couldn't come - was quite happy to be going home for a while as well. It was sure to be a fun week, the whole family was going to be there. His mother had planned a sort of makeshift family get together. Charlie was Apparating in from Romania, Bill and his fiancé Fleur were coming as well, and Fred and George had even left the shop in the hands of their clumsy assistant Verity for a week so that they could join in the gathering. Percy, of course would not be present.

As the train began to slow, the four teens stood to grab their luggage from the upper compartment. "Let me get that for you," Harry said, trying to grab Ginny's trunk for her.

"No, I'm fine, I can get it," she said, reaching up.

"You shouldn't be heavy lifting..." Harry commented.

Ginny rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Pregnancy is not a disability," she huffed at him.

Harry, not in any mood for an argument over such a silly thing - especially since Ginny almost always won - put his hands out defeatedly and stepped back so Ginny could pull down her own trunk. She gave him a satisfied grin as she managed to easily bring the heavy trunk down next to her. The train finally came to a complete stop, and the group followed a crowd of students off of the train and onto platform 9 3/4. It wasn't as busy as it had been at Christmas or New Year's, but it never was during Easter, a lot of students just stayed at school for the holiday. Harry, Ginny, and Ron all looked around for some sign of Mr or Mrs Weasley, but did not see them.

Hermione, however, knew that her parents would be waiting to meet her on the other side of the platform. "I've got to go," she said. "Mum and dad are waiting for me." She gave Harry and Ginny big hugs and told them to have a nice spring break. She gave Ron a much longer, closer hug, and Ginny saw her brother whisper something into his girlfriend's ear which was obviously quite sweet because Hermione smiled up at him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. They weren't big on public displays of affection. The lovebirds both blushed and with another wave goodbye to her friends, Hermione stepped through the brick platform post and disappeared.

A few minutes went by and the platform was starting to empty of people. None of the three friends could spot Mr and Mrs Weasley anywhere.

"Reckon they forgot?" Ron asked.

Ginny scoffed. "Doubt it. Mum's been sending me owls about us coming home for the past two weeks. She's really excited to have the whole family together."

Ron knew that she was right. If there was anything that his mother liked more than a clean house, it was having all her children in it with her. Well, almost all... Ron swallowed back some anger. Desperate to change the subject in his head, he said, "Maybe they-" but he was interrupted.

"Hey, fatty!" The loud mocking voice of his older brother Fred called. Harry, Ron, and Ginny turned to see the twins leaning against the platform post.

"You heard us, prego," George added. "Get over here before your water breaks!"

The group ran over to meet the twins, Ginny laughing at their comments. Well, that was her brothers for you. "Fred! George!" she squealed, elated at the sight of her older brothers. "What're you doing here?" She gave them both huge hugs.

"Mum sent us. She's all tied up in her cooking frenzy. Sorry we're late, we got lost coming over here. We couldn't Apparate cause we had to bring you lot back. Anyways, we best be going," George said.

"If we miss dinner Mum'll murder us," Fred added. He stared at Ginny's abdomen. "Bloody hell Ginny, you're huge," he commented as the five of them headed through the platform post portal and into King's Cross Station.

Ginny laughed, but was slightly insulted. "I'm only four months. I'm not that big."

George chuckled. "You sure you're not having twins, Ginny?"

"Positive."

"Think she's right, Fred?" George asked, looking to his twin.

"I dunno George," Fred replied. "Harry's always been kind of an over achiever."

"It's only one," Ginny said. "Sorry to disappoint."

"You should consider yourself lucky," said George. "You wouldn't want to end up with kids-"

"Like us," The twins said together.

Harry looked around. They were in a parking garage. "Who's car are we taking?" he asked, knowing that the Weasleys no longer had a car since he and Ron had crashed their Ford Anglia into the Whomping Willow four years prior.

"Bill lent us his," Fred said over his shoulder as they approached a black Honda Accord. George and Fred had a quick argument over who would drive before George finally got in the driver's seat and everyone else climbed in. Fred sat next to his brother up front and Harry, Ron, and Ginny squished together in the back.

"So Harry," George said, looking at him through his rear view mirror as he turned the ignition. "We heard Ron gave you a bit of a hard time," he smirked.

Ron flushed and gave Harry an apologetic look for the millionth time since their fight. He still felt bad about the whole ordeal. "Can't say I really blame him," Harry said, pulling his seatbelt on. "I get it."

Fred laughed. "You actually got off easy having Ron beat you up," he said.

"We were gonna rough you up ourselves, but we figured once was enough," George added.

"And besides," Fred finished. "Knowing Ginny, _she_ probably pressured _you _into it."

"Bet you she's a tiger in bed," they said together.

Ginny's face went red as the colour of her hair, and she looked down embarrassedly. Harry put great effort into not laughing at this, but he was unsuccessful. He grabbed Ginny's hand to comfort her, but he realized that she was struggling to hold back a laugh as well. Fred and George did not hold back. In fact, they found this so funny that they continued to laugh about it all the way back to the Burrow.

The moment they arrived, Ginny felt the same sick, twisted feeling in her stomach that she'd felt before breaking the news to her parents. She knew that her mother and father, as promised, had already told her brothers about the baby for her (she remembered when she'd gotten an owl from Fred and George after they'd found out) but she still dreaded seeing her family face-to-face.

Her nerves were calmed slightly as she entered the house and was greeted with the sound of cheerful discussion and laughter in the kitchen. Harry took her hand and smiled at her.

"Mum?" George called.

Mrs Weasley, still laughing at something quite funny, called back, "In the kitchen dears!"

Fred, George, Ginny, Ron, and Harry kicked off their shoes and made their way into the kitchen. It always baffled Ginny how so many people always somehow managed to fit into such a small cooking area. Her whole family seemed to have squished themselves into the space; her mum stirring a pot on the stove, her father sitting at the table with Charlie, Bill, and Fleur, and now she, Harry, and her three other brothers had crammed themselves in.

"Ron! Ginny! Harry!" Bill called, standing to greet them. He gave his little sister a tight hug and patted Ron on the back in a brotherly fashion. He then shook Harry's hand. "Good to see you again," he said with a warm smile.

Bill looked down at Ginny's protruding stomach awkwardly. "Wow, so we um, heard about the news." He wasn't sure if he should be worried or happy for them, they were only fifteen and sixteen. But he decided that they'd probably been reminded of their ages many times already, and expressing his worry to them wouldn't do much for comfort, so he took his mother's advice and decided to treat Ginny and Harry's situation as a reason for celebration. "Congratulations!" He said. "I mean it, Gin. You'll be a good mum."

Fleur now stood right behind her fiancé and she pushed past him to hug Ginny. Ginny was shocked, she and Fleur didn't have the best relationship, and she'd _definitely_ never hugged her before. She hugged her future sister-in-law back awkwardly. "Congratulations!" Fleur said with a bright smile. "Zis eez vunderful! When are you due?" Her hands remained on Ginny's shoulders as she beamed at her expectantly.

"Um, the end of August..." Ginny said uncomfortably. _Why_ was she being so nice?

"Zat's vunderful!" She said. "You and 'Arry must be so excited! Oh Ginny, you'll be such a good muzzer!"

It seemed that the whole room was as surprised as Ginny about Fleur's behaviour, because everyone was staring at them curiously. Mrs Weasley bustled over to hug her daughter. "Oh darling, you're showing!" she said, pulling away and feeling her daughter's belly. "And you look absolutely beautiful!" she remarked.

Fleur jumped in again. "Oui! er- yes! She 'as ze... oh 'ow do you say...?" she looked to Mrs Weasley to help her out.

Mrs Weasley smiled, also quite shocked by her soon-to-be daughter in law's behaviour. "Glow," she said. "You've got the pregnancy glow." Ginny blushed. "And look how you're carrying," Mrs Weasley added, with and even brighter smile. "All up front, it's going to be a boy."

Ginny already knew this. She'd known from the day she'd found out that she was pregnant. She wasn't sure how she knew, she just did.

"More boys from the Weasleys? Shocking," Charlie joked. "Congratulations sis."

Molly Weasley turned back to her stove, and called, "Dinner's ready!"

The group moved outside and took seats at the long table. It was much too beautiful weather to be staying inside to eat. Dinner was a joyous occasion. Ginny, Molly, and - to their surprise - Fleur, spent most of the time gabbing about the baby. Harry and Ron laughed with Fred and George about new products they were designing for the joke shop, and Arthur, Bill, and Charlie were discussing quidditch.

After everyone had stuffed themselves to maximum capacity, Ginny watched as her mother levitated glasses, cutlery, and plates into her kitchen sink, where floating sponges were scrubbing the dishes. "So I've put Harry in your room," she said as she swished her wand left to right in a scooping movement, somewhat like that of an orchestra conductor.

Ginny was pleased, but utterly shocked. "What?"

Molly kept her eyes focused on her wand. "Well, I was going to have him stay with Ron, but Fred, George, and Charlie are all staying in there because Bill and Fleur are staying in the twins' old room, and I can't put him in Bill and Charlie's old room because that's a just a storage room now, and Perc-" she paused painfully for a moment. "Percy's old room still has that locking charm on it." She was quiet for a moment and then shook herself. "Normally I would have just figured out some sort of other arrangement, but I just figured, I mean, you can't get more pregnant."

Ginny jumped up and hugged her mother. Harry would be sleeping in her room, they'd finally have some alone time. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said.

"Don't thank me so fast," she said. "Just because you're pregnant does _not_ mean that you two can just go around fornicating all the time. This is still _my _house, and you are to follow _my_ rules. No sex."

Ginny, her mood somewhat squashed by this, but still generally happy, smiled, kissed her mother's cheek, and said, "No sex, I promise." Ginny didn't like lying to her mother, but this was one promise she knew she couldn't keep.


	11. Discussions, Brooms, and In Laws

Discussions, Brooms, and In Laws

Ginny awoke the next morning to see that the sun was hanging very low in the grey early morning sky. Harry, who was still asleep, had his arm wrapped tightly around her and his hand resting on her stomach. He must have felt her move because he unconsciously tightened his hold on her and pulled her closer in. Ginny smiled and allowed herself to sink into him, trying to fall back asleep.

But after half an hour of lying in bed, it became quite clear to Ginny that sleep would not be returning to her. Ginny sighed, wiggled herself out of Harry's grasp, and got to her feet. Waking up unnaturally early was becoming quite tiresome, and Ginny had been doing it for a while now. Maybe it was a pregnancy thing. Ginny really hoped not, she wouldn't be able to stand another five months of this. Yawning, she walked across her room, through the hall, down the stairs, and into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of pumpkin juice. She arrived to find that her mother was already awake, sipping from a cup of tea and reading a recipe book while a pair of self-knitting knitting needles were working on a hat in front of her.

"Morning, Mum," she said, yawning again as she opened the refrigerator and grabbed a jug of juice. She then opened the cupboard next to her and took out a glass.

Molly spun around. "Morning, dear," she said, closing her book and laying it on the table. "What are you doing up so early?" her mother asked. "It's only six o'clock, and it's the first day of holidays."

Ginny took her glass and sat down at the table across from her mother. "I've been waking up early for months now. I can't seem to sleep in."

Molly smiled and nodded. "That's your nesting instinct."

"My what?"

"You're Your nesting instinct," Mrs Weasley repeated. "You feel like you need to prepare for the baby, so you'll have trouble sleeping, and you'll want to shop for baby things, and, believe it or not, you may start feeling the need to clean things."

Ginny scoffed. "I honestly doubt that."

Mrs Weasley laughed. "Mark my words, it'll happen. You're body's preparing you to be a mum."

Ginny almost flinched at the word. Her whole pregnancy seemed almost unworldly to her, and she spent most of her time thinking about the nine month process of it. It still hadn't hit her completely that after all this was over that she'd have a baby, and much less, that she'd be someone's mum. Ginny looked down at her glass, no longer very thirsty. "I'm scared," she whispered.

Mrs Weasley sighed. "I know," she said, "But you'll get past that. Once you're holding your baby in your arms you won't care about anything else anymore. But I can tell you, mum to mum, eventually you won't be scared anymore, but you'll always worry. I still worry when Bill doesn't write me back right away, I worry when Charlie tells me about the dragons he works with, I worry when Fred and George test their prank potions on themselves, I worry about you and Ron all the way over at Hogwarts in these dangerous times..." her eyes were beginning to water. "And I'm always worried about Percy..."

Ginny placed her hand over her mother's reassuringly. "You don't have to worry mum," she said. "We're all fine."

Mrs Weasley wiped her eyes. "I know dear," she said, puling herself together. "I know. It's just a mother's way, it's in our nature to worry, you'll see," She smiled, wiping her eyes. "You're going to be a good mum, Ginny," she said, and she took a heavy breath. "Now, what do you say you help me make breakfast?" she asked. "Everyone should be waking up in a few hours or so, and I was planning on baking some muffins."

Ginny agreed. She'd never much liked cooking, but she figured she'd have to get used to it if she was going to get anywhere near the same wavelength that her mother seemed to be on. She wanted to be a good mother, and to do that, she figured her best bet was to model herself after her own mum.

Over the next two hours the rest of the family came downstairs slowly, and by eight o'clock everyone was awake. This was still surprisingly early, considering that it was a holiday. The twins usually slept in until noon on holidays. Molly assumed everyone was just happy to be around their family.

Harry had been the third person to join Ginny and Molly in the kitchen, after Bill and Fleur. Fleur was chatting with Ginny again, still much to everyone's disbelief - except Bill, who seemed to know what was going on - and Molly was pouring herself another cup of tea.

"Morning, dear," she called. "Fancy a cup of tea?"

"Um, sure," Harry said, taking a seat at the table next to Bill, who was inspecting his broomstick. "Is that a Comet 290?" he asked, looking at Bill's polished but worn broom.

Bill shook his head. "260," he said. "Getting old, but she still runs. What do you fly, Harry?"

Harry, trying to be modest, paused before answering, but was luckily interrupted by Ron exclaiming for him, "He fly's a Firebolt!" Harry laughed at the fact that, four years later, Ron was still in amazement of Harry's broom.

Bill's eyebrows shot up. "A Firebolt? Who gave you that?"

Harry choked back a lump forming in his throat. "My godfather," he said quietly.

Bill, knowing who Harry's godfather was and what had happened to him, gave Harry a sympathetic look. "Sorry," he said.

Harry shrugged. "It's alright. Hey, are you up to a game of Quidditch later?" He asked, trying to brighten the mood. "We could play three on three: Charlie, Ron, and I, versus you and the twins."

"How would that work?" Charlie asked, entering the kitchen behind Mr Weasley. He yawned and reached for a muffin. "We need seven people for a team"

"Well, we could play with only one person in each position, and no seekers. Whoever gets the most points in a thirty minute game wins?"

"Sounds good to us," Fred and George said together, as they entered the kitchen last.

Harry looked to Ginny. "Hon, you wouldn't mind, right?"

"Of course not, have fun," Ginny said, pleased that Harry was getting along so well with her brothers.

Harry beamed. "So it's a game."

Ginny watched as the boys kicked off the ground and zoomed through the sky above. She envied them. She really wished that she could play, but flying around fifty feet in the air on a broomstick while dodging Bludgers could not be good for the baby. She sighed. Maybe pregnancy really _was_ a handicap.

"Ginny!" Fleur called as she headed toward her future sister-in-law. She sat down next to Ginny at the outside table. "'ow are you feeling today?" she asked.

Ginny, still baffled by Fleur's new found soft spot for her, tried to be polite, and smiled back at her. "I'm fine," she said. "How are you?"

"Fantastique. 'Ow eez zee little one?"

Ginny rubbed her stomach. "He's fine. He-" Ginny was cut off by a strange feeling in her abdomen. It didn't feel like anything she'd ever experienced before. Ginny jumped up. "Mum!" she called. "Mum! Help!"

Fleur jumped as well. "What eez it Ginny?"

"I- I don't know!" Ginny cried. "Something just happened."

Mrs Weasley came rushing out then. "What's going on?" she called, rushing over to her daughter. "What's wrong?"

Ginny explained to her mother what she'd felt in a terrified voice. She was absolutely _convinced _that there was something wrong with the baby. Mrs Weasley looked at Ginny in comprehension. "Like a beating coming from inside your stomach?" she asked. Ginny nodded. Molly laughed. "That's a kick, Ginny," she said with a smile. "The baby's kicking."

"Oh," Ginny said in embarrassment. How did she not realize that? The feeling of shame was soon overthrown by a feeling of excitement. "Oh!" she said again, but in a much different tone. She pressed her hands against her stomach. The baby kicked again, harder this time. She could feel it on the inside and the outside.

Molly pressed her hand against her daughter's protruding belly as well. She smiled up at her. "That's wonderful Ginny," she said. Ginny smiled back. "Well I best be getting back to cleaning up inside."

"Let me help you," Ginny offered.

"Oh, I will 'elp too," said Fleur

Molly shook her head. "That's quite alright ladies. I'll be finished soon anyways. You just enjoy the day."

"Are you sure?" Ginny asked.

Her mother smiled. "I'm sure, dear," she said. "Have some fun." She then bustled back into the house.

The boys' game finished and Ginny stood, excited to tell Harry about what the baby had done, but a rematch was called, and they were playing again before anyone's brooms had even hit the ground. Ginny huffed and sat back down next to Fleur.

About ten minutes passed where the girls sat quietly, equally bored, before Ginny, burning to know, finally blurted her question out. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

Fleur gave her a surprised look. "Am I not always nice?" she asked, acting hurt. Ginny gave her a look that said 'seriously?' and Fleur looked away. There was another moment of silence before Fleur spoke again. "I'm sorry I vaz rude to you before," she said.

Ginny shrugged. "It's okay. But why the change of heart now?"

Fleur hesitated, as if deciding whether or not she should tell her. "My..." she paused. "My muzzer vaz about your age ven she 'ad me," she said. "I know 'ow 'ard zis eez for you. I thought you needed a friend."

Ginny hadn't expected that. Fleur wanted to be her _friend_? "But, why are you being nicer to everyone else then?"

Fleur shrugged. "I felt good being nice to you. I like your family, they are good people. And I am marrying your brozzer, soon, so we will all be family. I thought I needed a- um- 'ow do you say?"

"Change?" Ginny offered.

"Yes, yes! A change! I am not a bad person, you know."

"I never thought you were," Ginny lied.

"Yes you deed. You thought I vas a snob. It's okay, I know." Fleur said. "But, I would really like if we could be friends."

The situation seemed almost unreal to Ginny. She'd spent the last year under the impression that Bill's fiancé hated her, and now she was asking her if they could be buddies? She could only think of one thing to say. "Okay."

Fleur beamed. "Vunderful!" she said.

Ginny smiled back at her, still in disbelief. She felt another kick. "He's kicking again," Ginny mumbled, more to herself than to anyone.

"May I... may I feel eet?" Fleur asked.

Ginny nodded. "Of course."

Fleur put a hand on Ginny's belly, and the baby kicked again. Fleur's eye's eyes went wide. "Wow," she said.

Ginny smiled. "Yeah, wow." From the corner of her eye Ginny could see the boys coming down from their brooms and Harry heading toward her. Obviously the game was over.

"Hey," Harry said as he approached the girls, who were still smiling in excitement. "What's up?"

Ginny beamed. "He kicked Harry! The baby kicked!"

"Seriously?" Harry said, touching her belly. His son kicked again, multiple times. Harry was overjoyed. "Ginny," he said in awe.

"He knows who his father is," Ginny laughed. She looked up to see that her brothers had now crowded around them, still holding their brooms.

"What's going on over here?" George asked.

"Zee baby keeked!" Fleur exclaimed.

They weren't as impressed by this as Ginny, Fleur, and Molly had been. She wasn't surprised, they were boys after all. Harry however, was beyond words.

It was just hitting him. This baby wasn't just an idea, something they talked about. It could move, they could feel it. It was a person. It was his child.

Harry and Ginny were laying in bed after yet another amazing day at the Burrow. Harry was gently rubbing Ginny's stomach and watching as her belly bumped when the baby kicked. "I think we should name him after Sirius," Ginny said.

Harry looked up so his eyes met hers. "Really?"

"I've been thinking about it all day. I mean, he meant so much to you, and he did so much for The Order, I don't even know where we'd be if it weren't for him. I think it's the least we can do to honour his name."

Harry smiled and kissed her. "That's a wonderful idea," he told her happily. He then paused, as if realizing something. "But Sirius' name hasn't been cleared yet, what if he's never proven innocent? It would be an impossible name to grow up with."

Ginny thought about it. "I suppose you're right," she said. And then it hit her. "What about as a middle name? Then only those close to him would know, and everyone close would know the truth about Sirius."

Harry smiled at her. "Ginny, you're a genius," he said as he leaned in and kissed her.

"I know," she sighed, and she deepened their kiss. Harry swept her hair out of her face and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Alone at last, Ginny and Harry forgot all about Mrs Weasley's rules.


	12. Easter

**So this one's kind of a fluff chapter, just so you know.**

Easter

It was Easter Monday. The Weasley family usually did Easter dinner on Sunday, but this year they had invited Remus and Tonks to feast with them, and they wouldn't have been able to make it otherwise, so instead they were doing it today.

Ginny lay in her bed, her bare body cuddled up to Harry's. She rested her head on his chest, and he was gently combing his fingers through her long red hair. They'd both been awake for a while now, but neither wanted to leave bed, so instead they took advantage of their much needed privacy to kiss and talk about their future without having to listen to everyone else's opinions.

They were both in extremely good moods, owing to the night before. It was even better than the first time. Better for Harry because Ginny - between her new curves and larger breasts - was even sexier than usual; and better for Ginny because last time it had hurt at first. It had started feeling good about half way through, and Ginny enjoyed the experience, but regardless, the beginning had been painful. This time there was no pain, just love and pleasure.

Harry was just telling Ginny, for the fourth time that morning, how much he loved her, when there came a knock on the door. Ginny groaned. "Who is it?" she called.

"It's me," her mother called back. "Are you two planning on getting up anytime soon? It's nearly noon."

Harry and Ginny exchanged shocked glances. Had they really been talking for that long? "Er- coming," Ginny said, jumping out of bed and hurrying to her dresser to pull out an outfit. They could hear Mrs Weasley's footsteps leaving, and then heading down the stairs.

Harry pulled on a pair of jeans and a button down shirt, put his glasses on, and tried unsuccessfully to tame his messy hair. Ginny grunted. "None of these clothes fit me," she said in an agitated voice. She swung her closet door open and rummaged through the hanging garments until she found a knee length flowing dress that hung loosely enough around her torso that she managed to pull it easily over herself.

Harry, slightly amused by her flurry, smiled at her and laughed lightly. "Ready to go?" he asked.

Ginny quickly passed a comb through her hair and pinned it back in a half-up do, and then turned to him. "Ready," she said. Harry took her hand and lead her out of the room and down the stairs. They could hear action coming from the kitchen.

"Well look who finally decided to join the land of the living!" George joked.

"Even George and I were up before you two," Fred added. He exchanged a mischievous look with his twin.

"You two look happy this morning," they said together, their voices suggestive.

Ginny went scarlet, but Harry kept his composure. "We had a good night's sleep," he said dismissively.

"Oh, I'm sure there was a lot of sleeping going on," Fred said sarcastically. George sniggered.

Molly, pouring marinade on a large roast ham on the counter in front of her, raised her eyebrows at them and shook her head. Ginny felt a pang of guilt. "Is there anything we can do to help?" Ginny asked. She looked around the busy kitchen. Between the work of her family members and numerous charmed kitchen utensils, there was dough being rolled for pie crusts, vegetables being chopped, potatoes being peeled, pots being stirred, and contents of large bowls being blended.

"Sure," Molly said. "You two can help Ron. He's kneading the bread.

Harry and Ginny moved to sit next to Ron, who was frustratedly swatting a ball of dough around on the table top. "Morning Ron," Harry said, grabbing his own dough ball and trying to copy Ginny who had just started on hers, gently folding it into itself and then flipping it over and starting again.

"Morning," Ron said. "Happy Easter." He turned to look at Ginny's flawless kneading abilities "How do you do yours so perfectly?" He demanded.

Ginny shrugged. "It's just folding, it's not that hard."

"That's what you think," he grumbled, punching his blob of dough.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Ron, Mum must've shown us how to do this at least ten times when we were little. Maybe if you had been listening rather than getting suckered in to being Fred and George's little test rabbit-" she joked.

Ron sighed. "Now you're starting to sound like Hermione. And I wasn't their test rabbit."

"Ron, you let them feed you an acid pop that burnt through your tongue," Ginny said.

"It's true," the twins said together. "We did."

Ron huffed and punched his dough again. Harry fought off the urge to laugh. "It's okay mate," he said. "Mine's worse than yours, see?" he pointed at his own mushy mound.

"Mine's perfect," Ginny muttered quietly.

"Mum! Ginny's showing off!" Ron said.

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Molly turned around and pointed her wand at Ron's oddly formed mess of dough. It levitated in the air and began to knead itself perfectly. "Now go help Fleur roll pie crusts."

Ron was frustrated to realize that he wasn't much good at this either, and he ended up rotating around the kitchen, trying different culinary tasks until he finally found that he could chop vegetables decently, and settled himself to that.

Remus and Tonks arrived at the Burrow at around three, bearing baked goods from Tonks' mother. Tonks entertained Ginny by morphing into various members of the Weasley family and walking around the house pretending to be them and confusing everyone else. When she morphed into George and bumped into George himself, he honestly thought he was talking to Fred.

Molly handed out home made toffees to everyone and kept the group quite occupied until dinner was served at around five. The meal was delicious; roast ham, mashed potatoes, various meat pies, roasted vegetables, and home made buns (though a few were just tad lumpy, and Ron of course knew why). For pudding Mrs Weasley brought out sweet pies and served the baked goods that Tonks had brought.

After pudding all the adults helped to levitate dishes into the sink to be cleaned by floating scrub brushes, whilst Harry, Ron, and Ginny, too young to be using magic outside of school, debated what Harry and Ginny naming their baby Ron.

"For the last time Ron, _no_," Ginny said, sitting back on the couch in the living room, resting her hands on her stomach.

"Why not? Am I not worthy of being named after? Ouch Ginny. Ouch."

Harry sighed. "Look, it's not a personal strike on you, it's just that we've agreed, we're not naming him or her-"

"Him," Ginny interjected.

"Him," Harry agreed. "We're not naming him after any living relatives. It'd just get too confusing."

"So no Arthur, Bill, Charlie, George, or Fred either?" Ron asked.

"No."

"Are you sure-"

"Ron!" Ginny nearly shouted, laughing.

"Fine," he said. "But you'll see. I bet by the time that kid pops out you'll change your mind."

Ginny cringed. "I wish it was as easy as just 'popping out'," She said.

"Oooh! Are we talking about the baby?" Tonks asked, entering the room. Her hair had morphed to be long, sleek, and blonde.

Ginny laughed. "Yeah, Ron is insisting that we name him after himself."

"You should. I like the name Ron," she said.

"See? It's a great name."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Anyways, if we're done arguing over this, could we please talk about the more pressing matter at hand?"

"And what is that?" Harry asked.

"I'm too fat for all of my clothes!"

Now it was Ron's turn to roll his eyes. "That's not a pressing matter Ginny."

"Are we talking about Ginny being fat?" George asked, walking in, his twin at his side.

"You know, I don't think she's even pregnant," Fred added. "I think she's just put on a lot of weight and wants an excuse to eat ungodly amounts of food and boss Harry around."

"Why are we calling Ginny fat?" asked Mrs Weasley as she came in, levitating a tray of tea pots and tea cups with saucers. She eased it down so that it rested on the coffee table.

"Because she can't fit into her clothes," Harry explained.

"Why don't you just use the Engorgement Charm on them?" Molly asked, pouring tea into each individual cup and handing them out. "That's what I used to do."

"The school uniforms are hex and charm proof, for obvious reasons, I suppose," Ginny explained.

Mrs Weasley paused to think about it. "Well, you're uniform consists of a black skirt, black stockings, a white shirt, and a black jumper, right?" She nodded. "Well then, before you go back to school I'll go down to Diagon Alley and see if Madame Malkin's has any maternity clothes of the sort. If she doesn't I'm sure the used clothing shop will. I'll just stitch your Gryffindor patch on, and no one will be the wiser."

Ginny grinned. Her mother was such a quick thinker. "Thanks mum," she said.

Molly smiled back. "Any time dear."

The baby kicked and Ginny smiled. "He's kicking," she said, looking at Harry. She stared down at her stomach and rubbed it gently. "Hi baby," she said.

"Oh, that's so cute!" Tonks exclaimed. "Remus, I want a baby!"

Remus, who had been sipping a cup of tea, choked and spat it back into his glass. He coughed. "Honey, I- I thought we- didn't we agree-" he stammered.

Tonks burst into a fit of laughter. "Calm down Remus, I was only kidding," she nearly fell off her chair with laughter. "You should have seen your face, Darling. Could you imagine, Remus and I, parents?"

Remus seemed somewhat relieved. "Not funny," he said, though he himself was chuckling.

"Why is that such an impossible idea?" Molly asked curiously.

Tonks laughed again. "Trust me Molly, it'll never happen."

Ginny, though extremely amused, was no longer listening. Perhaps it was just another pregnancy induced hormone spark, but she found that she couldn't stop staring at Harry, feeling the incredible urge to kiss him. Or repeat last night's performance. Preferably both. She looked down at her wrist. "Would you look at the time?" she said. "I best be getting to bed."

She jumped up, gave Remus and the still-laughing Tonks hugs, wished them farewell, and went on to say good night to her family, all in a matter of about a minute. She then said, "Harry, are you coming? You look tired as well and it's getting quite late you know," she looked down at her wrist again and offered a hand out to Harry.

Harry gulped and leapt up, taking Ginny's hand, murmuring goodnight and Happy Easter to everyone, and hurrying up the stairs with her, taking two steps at a time.

They had only been out of the room for about a moment when Fred spoke. "She wasn't even wearing a watch."

**By the way, I'm aware that the school uniform I mentioned earlier is the film version of the uniform, not the original. I just prefer this one. :)**


	13. Warnings

Warnings

Voldemort, along with his Death Eaters, sat around a long table. Nagini was coiled near Voldemort's feet, quietly staring at the room through piercing slit eyes. There was tension amongst the group, as always, and Voldemort pressed his fingers together in thought. "How is it," he asked finally, breaking a long silence. "That after nearly a month of planning, none of you have managed to come up with a decent idea of how to get the girl?" His voice was a low hiss, calm but promising violence.

He looked around the room. "No answer?" he hissed, standing to pace slowly around the table, looking down over his followers' shoulders. A few people stifled minor shudders as he passed them, overwhelmed by his radiating power. "Do you need a reminder of the _importance_ of this task?" he asked, reaching from behind the back of a random Death Eater's chair and grabbing his neck.

It was Lucius Malfoy. "My lord," he wheezed through Voldemort's tight grip.

"Ah, Lucius," Voldemort said in a smooth voice. "My information bringer... Tell me, what do you know of Potter and this Weasley girl right now?"

Lucius gulped. "He-" but he couldn't say much more, his master's grip was too tight.

Voldemort loosened his hand just enough to allow words to escape from Lucius' mouth. "Yes?"

Lucius cleared his throat. "They spent the holiday with her family, away from Hogwarts. That's all I know."

Voldemort tightened his grip again. "That is _not_ useful information Lucius." His grip became tighter and tighter around the Death Eater's neck. Lucius was beginning to feel faint.

"Family, you say?" Bellatrix asked lazily from across the table, a faint look of realization on her face.

Voldemort ignored her. "I am trying to take over Britain, I do not have time to worry about an unborn child. I assigned you to this _one_ thing Lucius, it should have been taken care of by now! This was _your _idea Lucius. This was not supposed to be a change in the plan, this was supposed to weaken Potter! The girl should be dead by now, and we _should_ be worrying about more important things! And yet here we are still talking. Is it because you are such an impossible idiot that you cannot do this painfully easy task?" His voice grew steadily angrier and his grip became greatly tighter until the Death Eater was just on the edge of consciousness.

"My Lord," Bellatrix called lazily again.

Voldemort snapped his head around to face her. "What Bellatrix?"

Bellatrix smiled and leaned forward, smirking evilly as she did so. "It's nothing, my lord," she said picking at her finger nails. "But you might want to know I've figured out how we can get her."

**XXX**

The wheels of the Hogwarts Express came to a slow stop and Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny swiftly grabbed their bags out of the upper luggage compartment and left the train. The carriage ride that followed was filled with chatter about their break. Hermione had seemingly had a great time. Her mother had taken her to a Muggle bookstore and allowed her to thoroughly stock up on light literature. She listened intently to Ron, Ginny, and Harry as the trio went over the events of their week at the Burrow.

It had truly been a great week, and the thought of returning to class the next day seemed rather unappealing (to everyone but Hermione), but alas they had no choice, so the friends said their good nights and headed off to bed, trying not to think about having to wake up the next morning.

Harry had an odd dream that night. He was standing on a bridge with his arms outreached toward Ginny, who was standing at the bottom of a deep pit beneath him, cradling a baby in her arms. She didn't look afraid, despite the ominous dark area around her. "Ginny, come up," he called down to her.

Ginny shook her head and cradled the baby closer. "I can't, he'll take him."

"Why would he take him?" Harry asked her.

Ginny did not answer. She held the baby closer to her chest and shook her head at Harry. "I have to go," she said.

"Where?"

"Away. I have to take him somewhere where he can't find him."

Harry tried to speak but could not get any sound out of his mouth. Everything had fallen to a complete ringing silence. He heard a very airy version of Ginny's voice whisper, "If we're important, you'll come find us," and with that her body, along with the baby she was holding, disappeared into the darkness, and Harry was alone.

Harry woke up with a start, sitting up quickly and pressing his hand against his scar, which was stinging heavily. He reached for his glasses and shoved them onto his face, looking around the room. It was light, so it couldn't still be night time. He grabbed his watch off his bedside table and looked down at the time. It was quarter to seven. He ought to have been getting up soon anyways.

Leaping out of his bed as quickly as if it had been burning hot, he flattened his fringe on his head and rifled through his trunk for his robes.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs to the common room, Harry saw that a few Gryffindors were walking around or sitting sleepily on the couches, Ginny being one of them, though she of course was not sleepy, as she'd probably been up for a while now.

"Morning," Ginny called to her boyfriend as he reached the couch where she was sitting and sat down next to her.

Harry seemed rather distressed to her, especially for someone who had only been awake for a matter of minutes. "Something wrong?" she asked him.

Harry shook his head. "My scar's just hurting."

Ginny didn't take this as lightly as he did. "Why? Is something going on? Did you see something?"

"No," Harry said. "I think this one's just random." He wasn't lying. With each passing second more and more of the dream was slipping away from him, and by this point he was no longer able to make any sort of connexion between the strange dream and the scar.

Ginny reluctantly allowed him to drop the subject. "Let's head down to breakfast," she suggested. "The baby must be growing a lot lately, I swear I could eat this whole castle today."

She nearly did, or at least half the food in it. Harry spent the remainder of the day trying to grasp bits and pieces of his dream from the night before, but it seemed like the more he thought about it, the more he forgot. By the end of his last class of the day - Transfiguration - he could only remember darkness, something about a bridge, and Ginny saying "If we're important, you'll come find us." None of that seemed to make much sense. Perhaps he was over thinking the whole matter. It was, after all, just a dream. But Harry, from past experience, knew much better than to overlook his night visions, so he found it hard to let this one go.

"Mr Potter," Professor McGonagall called after him as he was about to leave the lesson.

Harry turned and approached her desk, swinging his book bag over his shoulder. "Yes Professor?" he asked, pushing his glasses up to sit properly on his nose.

"Professor Dumbledore has asked me to remind you that should anything suspicious happen to you or Miss Weasley, anything at all, you are to report it to him immediately."

Harry was confused. "Okay, but why couldn't he have told me that himself?" he asked. "He's already asked me to see him after class tomorrow."

"The Headmaster is away on an unexpected business trip. I'm not sure of any other details of the situation. All I know is that I was supposed to tell you that."

Harry was only more confused now. Unexpected business trip? About what? McGonagall definitely wouldn't be giving him any answers, he knew that. "Thank you Professor McGonagall," he said, turning to leave.

"Potter," she said as he approached the door.

Harry turned. "Yes?"

"Be careful," she said, something glinting in her eye.

Harry would have loved to interrogate her over what she meant by this, but knew it would be no use, so he settled instead on a stiff nod before he left the classroom.

Ginny was all-in-all more comfortable now that her clothes fit her. Her mother was a genius, and she was right, her new clothes did look identical to the school uniform, except for the fact that they stretched around the torso to accommodate her swollen stomach. It was an ingenious invention really, witch maternity clothes. They were just regular garments with enchantments on them so that they grow when you do. How the Muggles lived without simple things like this, Ginny would never know.

She was just in the middle of reading _A Witch's Guide To Pregnancy and Childbirth _in the Gryffindor common room when Harry entered, looking even more distressed than he had earlier. "Harry?" she called. He dragged his feet toward her and sat down on the couch. "What's wrong?" she asked, looking at him worriedly.

Harry took a deep breath and explained everything.

**Short, I know, but it served its purpose. Btw, sorry for the weird new page breaks, they're the only one's that show up for some reason.**


	14. Explanations and Omens

**You people are the best readers ever, I love you guys! Keep your amazing comments up! Oh and by the way, I got to my cottage today and I don't know how much time I'll have to write, so updating's gonna be a little slow while I'm here, sorry. Please keep reading though, I'm still whole heartedly writing this story!**

Explanations and Omens 

"A _business meeting_?" Hermione asked the following day, when Harry told her about McGonagall's words. "What kind of business meeting?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know, she wouldn't tell me."

"Tell her about the dream," Ginny said.

"What dream?" Hermione asked.

"He had this dream. It was about a bridge, and... What else was it, hon?" Ginny asked, turning to Harry.

"It's not really important," he said, shrugging. The result of his statement was two impatient women staring at him in a look that said dropping the subject was not an option. Even Ron looked expectant. Harry sighed. "All I remember is standing on a bridge ... and something about darkness, and Ginny saying, '"If we're important you'll come find us.'" He told the story very anti-climatically.

"And it made his scar hurt!" Ginny added.

Hermione thought about it. "It sounds serious," she said quietly.

"It's not," Harry said.

"I think she's right, mate," Ron said pensively.

Ginny groaned. The baby was kicking particularly hard. Harry looked over at her. "Are you alright, love?" He asked.

Ginny nodded. "Your son likes to kick a lot."

"He's going to be a football player," Hermione joked, forgetting, for a moment, the issue at hand.

Ginny and Ron stared at her blankly, then at Harry for some sort of clarification. "It's Muggle humour," he explained.

"Oh," said Ginny. She shook her head as if trying to shake the unimportant thought away. "Anyways, back to the dream."

Harry sighed. "Ginny, really, it's not that important. Let's just forget about it." He offered her a reassuring smile.

Ginny smiled back, but it was rather forced. This was not unimportant to Ginny, in fact Harry's dream and McGonagall's warning were about the only things she found that she could think about today, and it was starting to grind down on her.

**XXX**

Ginny sat under a tree in the school grounds, reading _A Witch's Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth _once more. Harry was at Quidditch practice, leaving her with some unwelcome alone time. She wasn't sure why, but she couldn't seem to shake an intense feeling of fear lately, not that she would let it show. She wished Harry could be with her all the time, she felt safer around him. This whole feeling was foreign to her. She usually never needed anyone but herself to make her feel safe, but lately she felt nothing less than vulnerable. This was obviously another pregnancy/hormone related issue. Nevertheless, she wanted him here.

Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were working on what looked to Ginny like homework assignments not far across from her on the slightly damp grassy earth. They were whispering to each other grimly and occasionally shooting pitiful glanced in Ginny's direction, driving the redhead nearly insane.

Another whisper, another look... Ginny dug her finger nails into the palms of her hands. Was she mistaken, or were they looking at her more and more often? Why couldn't people mind their own business? Honestly, Ginny had been putting up with this rubbish ever since the news got out. What did it matter to everyone else if she was pregnant? The friends looked at her again, and Ginny - already in a bad mood due the stress of her constant worrying and the fact that she was a very pregnant, very hormonal, and naturally a temperamental woman - called to them, "Anything you want to say to me you can say to my face."

The girls looked at her as if they were shocked that she had noticed them. How could she have _not_ noticed? She was only about five feet away from them. They gawked at her. "What?"

"I know you're talking about me," Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

They glanced at each other as if deciding whether or not it was worth lying about. "What do you-"

"I'm not a slag you know," Ginny interrupted them.

They laughed. "Well you kind of are," Lavender said.

"But we don't really care," Parvati added matter-of-factly, as if this was supposed to make things better. "And besides, that's not what we were talking about."

"Don't talk rubbish; I know you were talking about me."

"Are you daft?" Lavender asked. "She didn't say we weren't talking about you she said we weren't calling you a slag. Calm down, geeze."

Ginny, a little crestfallen, demanded, "Then what _were _you saying about me?" Honestly, was it supposed to make her feel better? _'We didn't call you a slag, we called you something else.'_

The friends exchanged grim looks once more. "For the love of Merlin, what _is _it?" Ginny asked exasperatedly.

"Professor Trelawney says you have darkness following you," Lavender said.

Ginny scoffed. Of _course _she does. The woman was a lunatic.

Parvati, looking clearly offended by Ginny's taking this news so lightly, pointed at Ginny's swollen stomach and said. "That baby is a bad omen. She says it's going to bring bad things your way. It's bringing darkness."

Ginny had never thought twice about about anything the crazy old witch had said, but at the words coming out of Parvati's mouth she felt more scared than she ever had in her entire life. Her eyes filled with tears and she scooped up her book and hurried away. She wished they had been calling her a slag.

**I know, shortest chapter ever. Sorry.**


	15. Rubbish

**This story just got added to the Best Stories of Harry Potter community. Thanks guys :D Sorry again for the delay. At my cottage, I'm writing as much as I can.**

Rubbish

Harry headed back from Quidditch practice feeling tired and worn out. It was raining lightly outside, and the sky was the pink and purple hue of dusk. He approached the castle and made his way up to Gryffindor tower, murmured the password to The Fat Lady and entered through the portrait hole. A few students were sitting on couches in the common room, most of them working on homework assignments.

Harry scanned the room and finally found Ginny sitting in an armchair by the fire, staring into it in an almost hypnotized manner. He made his way toward her and took the seat to her right. _Scratch that,_ he thought. Her face looked really more dazed and consumed by deep thought than anything. "Ginny?" he said.

She slowly tore her eyes away from the flames to meet his. He noticed that she was protectively cradling her stomach and her eyes flickered fearfully. "Oh ...hi," she said, turning her focus beck back to the flames.

Harry, rather confused by her odd behaviour, asked in a soft voice, "Are you alright, love?" She didn't respond. "What is it?" he asked concernedly.

Ginny shook her head. Harry knew her well enough to interpret this properly. Obviously, whatever it was that was bothering her, she didn't want to talk about here. He took her by the hand and helped her stand up from her chair. She put up no protest as he led her up to his dorm and turned to cast a locking charm on the door so that no one would intrude. He turned back to face her and spoke softly again, "What's wrong?"

Ginny leaned against the post of her boyfriend's bed, wrapping her arms around her baby bump. "Lavender and Parvati," she said plainly.

All this did was make Harry even more confused. He rose an eyebrow at her. "What about them?"

"They said..." she looked down at what would be her feet if she could see them past her belly.

"What?" Harry asked gently, trying not to push.

"They said that the baby has evil surrounding him. They said that Professor Trelawney says he's a bad omen."

Harry couldn't help laughing. "And you believed them?" He laughed again. "Ginny, that old witch is insane, you can't take her seriously."

Ginny crossed her arms. "Are you calling me stupid?" she asked heatedly.

Harry was rather shocked at this. Where did she get _that _from? "No," he said. "I didn't say anything close to calling you stupid."

"Oh, so now you're calling me a liar," she said, her mood suddenly shifting from dazed to irritated. "Anything else Harry?"

"Ginny, you're being ridiculous," he said.

"_I'm_ being ridiculous? This coming from the king of melodrama?"

"Where is all of this coming from?" Harry asked her slightly angrily, but trying to keep his cool. "All this over something a batty old witch told two gossipy school girls?"

"It's not just that!" she shouted. "It's everything! It's what Professor McGonagall said, and Dumbledore randomly disappearing, and your dream, and just... everything! And it's driving me bloody insane how you're acting so stupidly nonchalant about this! Aren't you worried at all about our baby Harry?"

Harry was extremely offended by this. "Of _course_ I'm worried for him! But what am I supposed to do? Blow up and scream about it?"

"You mean like what I'm doing right now." It was more of an agitated statement than a question.

"Well, yeah, actually," Harry said snippily.

"Well I'm _sorry _if I'm a little stressed about the fact that I'm I have to protect _Harry Potter'_s baby who I'm pregnant with while we're on the verge of another _war_!"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Don't you get it Harry? He's coming for him!" Ginny shouted.

"Don't be ridiculous! How would he even know about this?"

Ginny glared at him. She reached into her robes for the copy of _The Daily Prophet _that she'd taken from the common room and nearly whipped it at him. Harry stared down at it, his eyes wide.

_Harry Potter's Greatest Scandal!_

_The Boy Who Lived is in big trouble; writes Rita Skeeter, Head Journalist for _The Daily Prophet. _Harry Potter and short time girlfriend Jenny Weasley seem to be in a bit of a sticky situation as their fellow classmates at Hogwarts report that Jenny is pregnant with his child. The couple had not been when together when the child was conceived, but became romantically involved after they learnt the news, in an attempt to cover Harry's shame of impregnating her after a one night stand. No news on whether or not the couple will be married, but we can assume that it is inevitable so long as the couple doesn't separate from the stress of trying to stay together, which is likely as they don't really know each other. More on Harry and Jenny's situation next week. _

The article, of course, was full of lies, but that was to be expected from Rita Skeeter. He supposed he couldn't be too surprised. It wasn't shocking that a student from school - probably a Slytherin - would go to the press with this. He lowered the paper and looked over it at Ginny. "Everyone knows," she said grimly.

"Well this is rubbish," he said, throwing the newspaper to the floor. "They called you _Jenny_."

Ginny huffed. "Honestly Harry, _that's _the thing that concerns you the most?"

"No, but honestly Ginny, it's rubbish, none of this matters-"

"It matters to me!" She was shouting again. "All of it!" Tears were starting to run from her eyes and down her face. Harry, feeling horrid for making her cry, moved to embrace her, but she pulled swiftly away. "Don't touch me," she said.

"Ginny," he said softly, trying to reach for her again. She stepped backwards, placing large distance between them.

"I don't want to hear it!" she cried. "Just... just... leave me alone."

"Ginny, please," he stepped toward her.

"Get _away_ from me!"

The door swung open then and a confused looking Ron entered.

Ron scanned the room to see his best friend and rather pregnant sister fuming at each other, Harry reaching for her and Ginny shouting and crying.

Harry turned his head to look at him. "How'd you get in?" he asked. "The door was locked."

Ron shrugged, his eyes remaining on the tearful Ginny. "_Alohomora," _he explained. "What's wrong with Ginny?"

Harry didn't answer him. Instead he looked sincerely into Ginny's eyes. "Ginny, I'm-" but she didn't let him finish.

"Sod off, Harry!" she said, pushing past him and her brother and leaving the room.

Ron stared from Harry, to the door where his sister had stormed out, then back to Harry. "What'd you do?" he asked confusedly.

Harry, also staring at the door, said, "A lot of things, apparently."

"Well, where did it start?" Ron asked.

Harry's eyes remained on the door. "I... I don't know." He said, utterly lost.


	16. Trauma

Trauma

Two days had gone by since the argument, and despite Harry's multiple attempts to apologize and make peace with Ginny, she was still not speaking to him. She had her dorm-mates bring her food at meal times to avoid having to see him in the Great Hall, and she made a point of only leaving her dorm for classes to avoid seeing him in the common room or the hall ways. Harry didn't know what to do. How did he manage to screw things up so badly?

Things were equally as tough on Ginny's end. She wasn't even sure what she was mad about anymore, but for some reason she still didn't want to see him. She thought that perhaps she was just embarrassed about blowing up and was dreading having to face him. Not to mention the stress of everything had only been building up these days, and it seemed as though it was on the verge of the boiling point. She wanted to see Harry, but she wasn't sure how to confront him.

"Hermione, you're a girl," Harry said at breakfast that morning. He hurried to finish his question as he remembered how she'd reacted when Ron had said that same statement to her in fourth year. "How do you get girls to stop being mad at you and start talking to you again?"

Hermione sighed. "I might be a girl but I'm not a pregnant girl," she said.

Ron cringed and choked on his toast when he heard the word 'pregnant' come out of Hermione's mouth. "Thank god for that," he mumbled.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I mean, she's hormonal Harry, she's not thinking like a regular girl right now."

"Well isn't there something you can tell me?"

"Bring her chocolates," Ron said with a full mouth. "Girls love chocolate."

"She's very upset Ron, she'll want more than chocolate before all is forgiven," Hermione said.

"Like what?" Harry begged.

"Put some effort into it! You love her, right?" She asked. Harry nodded. "Well, make her listen to you. Go to her dorm and tell her how much you love her. Tell her that she can avoid you all she wants but you're not going to give up on her. If that doesn't get her to forgive you, I don't know what will."

"Duly noted," Ron said, smirking at his girlfriend.

Hermione rolled her eyes again.

**xxx**

Ginny sat in her dorm, eating her way through a steak and kidney pie that her dorm-mates had brought her from the Great Hall for lunch. She was glad that it was a Friday and tomorrow she wouldn't have to leave the dorm at all. But how long could she keep this up? She couldn't stay in her dorm forever, and she _certainly _couldn't avoid Harry forever. He was the father of her child fro for Merlin's sake! She nervously wondered if he would actually take her back after this.

She'd never thought it possible for one's stress and worrying to reach a level as high as the way she was today. It couldn't be good for the baby. The idea that she could be harming her baby only made things worse. It was like a viscous circle.

The baby kicked fiercely at her stomach. "Sorry," she said. "I'll try to calm down."

She looked at the clock on the wall and sighed, realizing that she had to head to class now.

Defence Against the Dark Arts sped by in a blur, despite Snape giving her looks that she couldn't quite decipher. It was followed by double Charms, which seemed ridiculously harder than usual due to her majorly preoccupied mind. She made a mental note to try harder on Monday.

Ginny caught a quick sight of Harry in the hallway whilst on her way back to her dorm, and she briefly considered running to talk to him; make amends, but she chickened out at the last minute and rushed up to Gryffindor Tower.

Harry noticed her doing so. It was time.

**xxx**

It took about an hour or so for Harry to decide exactly what he wanted to say to her, and by that time it was dinner, so he headed to the Main Hall with Ron and Hermione, mostly for procrastination's sake.

It was about seven o'clock when he headed up to Gryffindor tower and - casting a charm on the staircase to prevent it from turning into a stone slide as it had the last time he'd tried to come up - he rushed up to the girl's dormitories and to Ginny's dorm. Harry had fought the Dark Lord three times and even quite a few Death Eaters, and yet he'd never been more nervous than he was now. He knew that the reason for this was, of course, because of all the deadly and viscous creatures known to Wizards or Muggles, there is nothing more horrifying; more deadly; or more lethal; than an angry woman.

He took a deep breath before turning the handle and entering the room to find... no one. He looked around. "Ginny?" he called. No response. He stepped further inside and examined the room more thoroughly. No, it was definitely empty.

Crestfallen, Harry left the room and headed out to the common room. Still no sight of Ginny. He sighed and headed out into the halls, hoping to find her roaming somewhere. Stepping out of the portrait hole, he roamed the corridors, hoping to catch a glimpse of his girlfriend and the mother of his child. But his luck did not change. Dejected and wondering where she was, he headed back to the common room hoping to catch her there. Perhaps their paths had crossed and she was back in her dorm.

As he neared the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, he spotted Luna talking to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Luna?" He said.

She turned to looked at him. "Oh, hi Harry," she said.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I was waiting for you to come out," she explained. "The Lady's been keeping me me company."

"You mean the Fat Lady?" he asked.

"It's not polite to comment on someone's figure," she said.

"Oh, sorry," he mumbled to the portrait.

"Not at all dear, not at all," The Fat Lady replied.

Harry turned back to Luna. "So, why were you waiting for me?" Harry asked, eager to finish the conversation so he could continue looking for Ginny. "You haven't seen Ginny anywhere, have you?"

"That's why I'm here," she said. "She's crying in the girl's bathroom. I asked her what was wrong but she wouldn't tell me. She asked me to come and get you.

"She's crying in the bathroom?" He asked, confused and worried at the same time.

"Yes, she was very upset. You should hurry. It's not nice to keep her waiting."

"Thanks Luna," he said and he hurried down the stairs towards the girl's bathroom. Why was she crying in the bathroom? Was she still crying over their fight? Harry felt a pang of guilt. He must have hurt her worse than he thought. Oh Merlin, what had he done?

When he finally reached the bathroom door, he paused for a moment, realizing that he wasn't allowed to go in there. He shrugged. He'd gone in before to save Hermione from the troll. And besides, comforting Ginny was much more important than stupid rules, it wasn't as if he was ever really a stickler for the rules anyways. He pushed the door open and stepped inside, greeted instantly by the sound of Ginny's sobbing. "Ginny?" he called.

The sobbing stifled slightly as if she meant to say something but found herself unable. It then continued, even harder than before. "Ginny!" he called again, worried this time. He looked around at the long rows of stalls, trying to decide which one she was in - the echoing walls of the bathroom made it very hard for him to tell where the crying was coming from.

He ran up the rows and the crying got louder until he finally reached the last stall where he could hear Ginny's cries quite clearly. He moved to push the door open, but found it would not move. "Ginny, love, open the door," he said softly but pleadingly.

Harry heard her slowly shift her body from the floor to unlatch the lock. He then heard her collapse back downward onto the floor and resume her weeping. Slowly, so as not to upset her further, he pushed the door forward and entered the stall.

Harry nearly gasped at the sight before him. Ginny - his girlfriend; the future mother of his child; the love of his life - lay crumpled on the floor, sobbing, with all a look on her face that was so horrifically brokenhearted so absolutely distraught, that he had never seen anything like it before. He lunged toward her and took her into his arms, cradling her close to his chest and rocking her gently in an attempt to soothe her as her body shook with sobs.

"H-Harry-" she said through her horrified tears.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to..."

"N-no it's n-n-not you..." She inhaled sharply and fell forward, weeping again. She wrapped her arms around her stomach protectively.

"What is it?" he asked, worriedly. "Ginny, what's wrong?" He gripped her shoulders and sat her up so he could faces face her.

"Harry, I..." she whimpered and fell apart again, collapsing into his lap.

"What Ginny? You _what_?" he was getting extremely anxious now. What could possibly be so wrong?

Ginny pulled herself up to face him this time, though she was extremely unsteady as she did so. Harry had to put his hand on her back to hold her upright and prevent her from falling backwards. Her body was still wracked with sobs as she tried to speak. She spent a good few minutes trying to get words out, clutching her stomach and whimpering.

It was only now, as she rubbed her hands over the front of her belly, that Harry noticed the blood on her hands. He gasped. "Ginny, what-"

"Harry," she said through tears. "I..." she trailed off. Harry's horror escalated as he waited for her to continue. Finally she spoke again, more brokenheartedly than ever. "I think I lost the baby."


	17. The Hospital Wing

The Hospital Wing

Harry had never heard anything more terrifying in his entire life. He felt as though his heart had been ripped right out of his chest. _No,_ he thought to himself. _This can't be happening_! Wordlessly, Harry scooped up the tear wracked Ginny and carried her at a near sprint to the Hospital Wing. When they reached it, they were greeted by a startled and confused Madame Pomfrey who stared at them, wondering what was going on.

"Well bring her in," she commanded. Harry, his own eyes now filled with tears, carried Ginny over to the nearest bed, waited for Madame Pomfrey to follow, and closed the curtains around them. "So what's the problem?" she asked, looking Ginny up and down.

"I-I-" Ginny stammered. Harry tried to finish for her but found himself equally speechless.

Madame Pomfrey glanced from Harry to rather pregnant Ginny; observing that they were both crying heavily, and then to Ginny's bloodied hands. "Oh," she said.

"We lost him d-d-didn't we?" Ginny wailed, throwing her face into Harry's chest.

Madame Pomfrey looked at her grimly. "Well, we can't be sure of anything yet," she said. "I'll have to do an examination. Lie down."

Ginny tearfully obliged and Harry held her hand tightly. "I'm sorry," Ginny whispered.

"Don't say sorry," Harry said, crying almost as hard as his girlfriend. "This isn't anyone's fault." The couple stared into each other's eyes brokenheartedly, gripping hands tighter than either of them ever had.

After what seemed like an eternity, Madame Pomfrey spoke. "Well," she said. Harry and Ginny looked up. "I've done my examination..."

"And?" Harry said, his voice shaking slightly. "Just tell us and get it over with."

Madame Pomfrey sighed. "You didn't lose it," she said. "The baby is fine."

Ginny was suddenly overwhelmed with a flurry of emotions. "But... the blood..."

"Was probably due to stress," Madame Pomfrey said. "It's quite common in the second trimester. Women get worked up about one thing or another, and the hormones are get so intense that they send wrong messaged messages to the uterus, causing light bleeding."

Neither Harry nor Ginny knew what to say. There were too many emotions rushing over them. Just a minute ago they'd thought that their baby was gone, and now they were learning that this wasn't the case. It was too much. Ginny in particular felt overjoyed, confused, and guilty at the same time. Her over stressing really _had_ caused harm to the baby. "So... he's okay?" she asked weakly.

Madame Pomfrey smiled. "He or she is just fine," she said. "But I'm going to keep you here on bed rest until tomorrow afternoon, just to monitor you and make sure the situation doesn't worsen. You'll have to be careful from now on though," the nurse said. "Keep the stress to a minimum so this doesn't happen again." She looked at Harry. "I expect you to take care of that," she said. "Ensure that she doesn't have anything to fret over for the remainder of her pregnancy." She looked back to Ginny. "Sleep," she said. "You need your rest." And with that she left.

Harry and Ginny looked at each other. Everything seemed to have gone by so fast. Ginny went from pregnant, to not pregnant, to pregnant again in the matter of about an hour. She rubbed her stomach. "I can't believe it," she said. "I thought... I was so sure..."

Harry climbed onto the bed next to her and held her tightly. "But you were wrong," he said. "It's okay, he's fine. Our son will be fine."

Ginny began to cry again, digging her head into Harry's neck. "I'm scared," she said.

"About what?" Harry asked. "He's fine, there's no need to worry now."

"For now!" she said. "But what about after he's born? This just showed us how bad we are at protecting him! We're helpless Harry, how are we ever going to protect him?"

"Shh," Harry said soothingly, running his fingers through his hair. "We'll figure it out, don't worry. He's safe."

"But what if we can't-"

"Ginny," Harry said, pulling her closer. "You don't need to not worry about that right now. It's my job to keep you from getting stressed out. Let's talk about something else, love. He's safe, I promise." He wiped the tears from her eyes and kissed her forehead.

She gently caressed her baby bump. "I can't believe we still have him. That was the scariest moment of my life, thinking we'd lost him."

"I know," Harry said, placing his hand on Ginny's belly and rubbing gentle circles. "Now we have to talk about something else," he said softly. "Something that won't upset you."

Ginny nodded in agreement. "I'm sorry for flipping out at you the other day. It was uncalled for, you didn't deserve it."

"No, I'm sorry," Harry said. "It was my fault. I should have been more sympathetic about your worrying."

Ginny laughed. "Let's just call it a product of the stress, and no one's fault. We can just put it behind us."

Harry gave her a gentle kiss. "That sounds like a good idea."

Ginny felt a strong kick, almost as if the baby was confirming what Madame Pomfrey had said. She beamed. "You scared us, baby," she said.

Harry, who had felt the kick against his hand, laughed. "Don't freak your mom and I out like that ever again."

"Though I guess it isn't really his fault," Ginny said, in much higher spirits. "We'll have to save that line for when he actually does something wrong." Harry found this rather funny. Ginny was about to kiss him again when a rather flustered looking Ron pulled the curtain back, Hermione in tow. That was the second time in a week that he'd he had just burst in on them.

"Are you okay?" Ron demanded, rushing toward her sister.

Hermione, looking equally worried, followed him and kneeled beside Ginny's bed, where Harry was laying with her. "Neville saw Harry carrying you in, he said you were both crying. We came straight away when we heard." She looked from Ginny's face down to her stomach. Her eyes went wide with horror. "It's not..."

Ron was still rather confused. "What?"

Hermione gulped and in a low voice, said, "You didn't... lose the baby, did you?"

All the colour drained from Ron's face. "Oh, Ginny," he said. "Harry," he looked hopelessly from his best friend to his sister. "Tell me you didn't..."

Ginny smiled. "It's okay," she said. "We thought we did but he's fine."

Hermione and Ron both let out sighs of relief. Harry was happy to see how much they cared for he him and Ginny and seemingly the baby as well. "We'll all have to keep the stress to a minimum for a while," Harry told them. "It's not good for Ginny."

"Right," Hermione said.

"What?" Ron asked. "All this isn't 'cause of your guys' fight, is it?" He asked.

"No," Ginny said, feeling guilty again. "It's just about everything. Until the baby is born nobody is to come to me about any kind of problem that might freak me out."

"Okay, gotcha," Ron said. He turned to Hermione. "So no girls gossip."

Hermione scoffed. "I hardly think that's what she means Ron," she turned to Ginny. "I'm just glad that you and the baby are all right."

"Me too," Harry said. He looked at his best friends. They were always there for him, and always there for Ginny. They were as loyal as friends could be. They would be perfect... He leaned in to Ginny and whispered his idea into her ear.

She smiled. "Oh Harry, that's a wonderful idea."

"What?" Ron asked, looking rather confused.

"Ron, Hermione," Harry started. "You two are the most loyal friends Ginny or I have ever had, so really there would be no better choice than you..."

"For what?" Hermione asked.

"We'd like you to be his godparents," Ginny said, beaming at them.

Hermione and Ron exchanged a look. "Like, his guardians if anything were to happen to you two?" Ron asked, a little too excited about the thought of Ginny and Harry dying, though, of course, Ginny understood. She nodded.

"We'd be honoured," Hermione said with a smile.

The four friends chattered about the baby until Madame Pomfrey kicked Ron and Hermione out, leaving Harry and Ginny alone to get some rest. Ginny fell asleep in Harry's arms, feeling contented. Her baby was okay.


	18. Bed Rest

**So, for this chapter, we're gonna pretend that Ginny and Dean never dated. Also, I fixed the mistakes on the last chapter. Thanks guys :)**

Bed Rest

It was early in the morning, and Harry lay still asleep next to her, but Ginny, of course, was fully awake. She knew she'd have to remain on bed rest until at least midday, and of course she understood the importance of this, but nevertheless, she was bored. She couldn't get up and walk around, so she had nothing to do but lie in bed. She tried to fall back asleep, but it was to no avail. The baby was kicking particularly hard today, much to Ginny's relief, but it made her quite uncomfortable.

For lack of anything better to do, Ginny allowed herself to slip into her thoughts. She found her eyes resting on Harry, and suddenly memories came rushing back to her. Ginny smiled as she immersed herself into them.

_"Ron, if I find you rifling through room one more time, I swear I will hit you with such a bad bat-bogey hex you'll have bat bogeys following you until you're eighty!" I shouted. _

_ "We're out of school Ginny, you can't!"_

_ "Try me!"_

_ "What in Merlin's name is going on?" My mother yelled, storming into the room, her wand clutched tightly in her hand. _

_ "Ron snuck into my room and read my diary!"_

_ "Did not! I was looking for my Quidditch book!"_

_ "Then why was my diary open?"_

_ "It's not my fault if you leave your stuff-"_

_ "Stop it, both of you!" My mother shouted. Reluctantly, but forced by maternal law, we quieted instantly, still fuming at each other. "Now," she said, in a calm but warning voice. "I don't care who started it, I'm ending it. Ron, you go see what Harry's up to. Ginny, go see if you can find Ron's broom, he seems to have left it in the orchard somewhere."_

_ "Mum-"_

_ "Now." It was an order, not a request. _

_ We both huffed and set our different ways, Ron to find Harry, and me to the orchard to find Ron's lost broom. I grunted. Why couldn't _he_ go find it? _

_ I stepped outside into the warm August air. It smelled faintly of apple blossoms. _Honestly, _I thought as I headed toward the orchard, You'd think that on my birthday they would be a little nicer to me._ _I approached the orchard, my eyes on the ground searching for the broom. _

_ "Ginny?" A familiar voice called. _

_ I looked up. "Harry? What are you doing out here? I thought you were inside with Ron."_

_ "No, I've been out here the whole time. Why? Is he looking for me?"_

_ I considered telling the truth, then remembered Ron and I's disagreement. "No," I lied. "I just figured. So what are you up to?"_

_ "I took Hedwig out for a quick flight. I'm just waiting for her to come back. What about you?"_

_ "I'm looking for Ron's crashed broom."_

_ "I'll help you."_

_ "Thanks." I accepted with a smile, glad to have another set of eyes. When Ron lost things, they were usually _really _lost. _

_ Harry had been staying with us all summer, and we'd spent a fair bit of time together. I tried to lie to myself and pretend that I no longer had feelings for him, but really, who was I kidding? I blushed at the thought that he may have picked up on it._

_ "Something wrong?" He asked, looking at me peculiarly. _

_ I stood up quickly from my position kneeling into some bushes in search of the crashed broom and ripped the front of my shirt in the process. It wasn't much of a rip, it didn't show anything. I chose to ignore it. "What? Why?"_

_ "You're blushing," he said with a smirk._

_ "Oh," I said. "No, it's just cold out."_

_ "Ginny, it's August."_

_ "Right," I said. "Then it's the heat."_

_ He chuckled to himself. "Of course," he said. "Of course."_

_ We continued to search for a while before I finally gave in. "I give up," I said, collapsing to the ground. "Ron can find his own ruddy broom."_

_ Harry laughed and sat down on the grass next to me. "It's really not fair," he said. "They shouldn't be making you work on your birthday anyways."_

_ "I know! It's wrong!"_

_ He laughed again. "Happy birthday, by the way," he said with a smile. "How does it feel to be fifteen?"_

_ "No different," I said. _

_ "Really?" he asked. "But fifteen's so much different from fourteen."_

_ "How so?"_

_ "Well for starters," he said. "You get to take O.W.L.s this year!" His voice was heavily sarcastic. _

_ "Oh, joy!" I retorted. _

_ "And you're only two years away from seventeen!"_

_ "Still a long time..."_

_ "And," he said, his tone changing slightly. "You can start dating now!"_

_ I snorted. "I dated last year."_

_ "Barely."_

_ "What's that supposed to mean?"_

_ "You only dated Michael Corner, and he was a total git. He doesn't really count."_

_ "You're not much better. You only dated that Cho Chang girl."_

_ "Yeah, and she ran off with Michael, so you know what that further proves? That he's a git."_

_ "Yeah, but that makes her one too."_

_ Harry laughed. "So what does that make us?"_

_ "Used," I said, leaning back to lay on the grass. Harry lied down with me. _

_ "S'pose so," he said. He paused for a moment, then he looked as though he was about to speak, but remained silent. We were lying very close together, I struggled to decide whether or not I was dreaming. _

_ "What are you thinking about?" I asked. _

_ "You're very beautiful."_

_ I snorted. "Okay, what do you want?"_

_ Harry feigned offense. "Why do I have to want something?" _

_ "Because," I said. "Boys don't give random compliments. I would know, I grew up with six of them." Once again, Harry silently decided whether or not to speak. Obviously he chose not. "So," I said, trying to change the subject. "Where did you get this crazy idea that people shouldn't date before their fifteen?"_

_ "Dunno," Harry said. "It's just how I always thought of it."_

_ "And what exactly do your opinions on dating have to do with me?"_

_ He raised an eyebrow at me as if I wasn't getting some sort of joke. He then shook his head. "Nothing, I guess."_

_ "Hmm..." I said. "Why do I get the strange feeling that there's something you're not telling me?"_

_ Harry laughed. "Maybe there is." He was absentmindedly playing with the ends of my hair. We were extremely close now, our bodies nearly touching, our faces so close to each other that our breath intertwined, making the air between us hot. Or was that just me? _

_ After a long silence in which Harry's fantastically green eyes pierced into my own, I finally spoke. "And what might that be?"_

_ He moved a little closer to me. We were so close now that I could have counted his eyelashes if I wanted to, not that it would be an easy task, as they were brushing against mine whenever either of us blinked. "Maybe I do want something," he said. _

_ I gulped. "A-anything," I stuttered. _

_ "I want to give you your birthday present."_

_ My heart sank. Not exactly what I'd expected. I was just about to sigh and stand up, ready to go and write a letter to Hermione about how daft boys can be, when suddenly every thought melted away. _

_ In one swift movement his lips brushed mine. For a moment I thought the action was an accidental product of our close proximity to each other, but then, when I smiled at him, this thought was banished as his lips crashed against mine. It was like someone had lit a match in my chest._

_ I kissed back deeply. I had waited so long for this, and I was going to get as much out of it as possible. I had been in love with this boy since I was ten years old. _

_ When we finally pulled away, we were both breathing heavily. I rested my head down beside him once more. "Happy Birthday," he said. _

_ I giggled. "Fifteen, eh?"_

_ Harry laughed back. "All summer I've been wishing that your birthday were in June or something."_

_ I laughed again and lied my head against his chest. "How long?" I asked, knowing that he knew exactly what I'd meant. _

_ "Since the day I first saw you," he said. "I just didn't realize it until this year."_

_ I smiled at him and we kissed again. We were just about to deepen the kiss when-_

_ "Ginny? Harry? What the bloody hell?"_

_ I looked up to see Ron, who had just approached the orchard. Only then did I realize how bad the scene must have looked to him. We were lying on the ground, practically on top off each other, kissing. To make matter worse, the rip in my shirt had somehow gotten worse, exposing some of my bra. I struggled to close it, both for the benefit of Ron and out of embarrassment in front of Harry. "Ron!" I yelled. _

_ "What the hell?" He repeated. _

_ Harry and I jumped up. Harry put his hands in front of himself in a peaceful manner. "Calm down Ron, her shirt's just ripped."_

_ "And you thought snogging her might fix it?" Ron asked angrily. _

_ "Okay, Ron, the shirt was really an accident. But the snogging..." I looked at Harry for support. _

_ "Am I not allowed to snog my girlfriend?" He said lightheartedly. _

_ My heart leapt. Girlfriend? I'd thought this was just a onetime thing. Just one kiss. Oh, this was turning out better than expected. Ron looked incredulously from Harry to I. "Girlfriend?"_

_ Harry took my hand. "That's right," he said. "If that's okay with you."_

_ Ron glanced again from Harry to I and then at the both of us. After a while of what I assumed was deep thinking, he sighed. "S'pose it was bound to happen eventually," he said with a smile._

_ Harry and I let out relieved laughs. _

_ "Come on lovebirds," Ron said. "Mum sent me to fetch you for dinner," He said. "Well, I guess _this'_ll_ _make for interesting dinner conversation."_

_ We walked back cheerfully to the Burrow. "Ron?" I said. "What do you mean, 'it was bound to happen eventually'? How did you know-"_

_ Ron snorted. "Oh please, no one actually believed that you got over Harry this year. And besides, you didn't think I was_ actually _looking for my Quidditch book, did you?" He smirked. _

_ "Ron, you git!" I shouted, half laughing, and I followed him back to the house. Harry following us, still holding my hand, and smiling. _

"Ginny?" Harry asked, looking up at his girlfriend, who was sitting upright, staring off into space.

Ginny blinked quickly and looked down at him. "Oh, morning," She said.

"What were you thinking about?" Harry asked, rubbing his hand gently on her growing belly.

Ginny sighed. "You."

"Funny," Harry said. "I was just dreaming about you."

**Sorry again for the wait, still cottaging. **


	19. Back to Normalish

**Hello my favourite people in the world! You guys leave the best reviews! Keep them up! I hope you like this chapter! Also, random shout out time! Happy birthday to my little sister who turned one yesterday. :D**

Back to Normal...ish

The month that followed Ginny's hospital visit was, blessedly, rather uneventful. At least on the dark magic front. But perhaps, Harry thought, things only seemed this way because they were choosing to turn the blind eye. But in the ways of normal life, plenty had changed. Ginny was now six months along, there was only a month of school left, and Ginny was hard focused on her O.W.L.s, which were taking place this week, causing minor stress, though Harry did everything in his power to keep it to a minimum for the sake of the baby.

Another drastic change that had taken place was that, after several complaints from Ron, having walked in on them at uncomfortable moments (Ginny's hormones were raging lately, in a good way. Ron, still hadn't figured out that opening locked doors was a bad idea) and Ginny and Harry growing tired of having to bend over backwards to spend time together amidst their insane schedules, Dumbledore finally granted them a joint dorm, located in the boys dormitories so that Harry would be able to get to it without having to constantly cast slide preventing spells.

Their dorm was cosy and homey. Being nothing but an unused group dormitory, it was open concept. It had one double bed for Harry and Ginny to share, and there was a place not too far from it where a crib cot would soon be placed. The rest of the room was mostly empty, aside from their trunks and an armchair, but Ginny knew that when they returned to school next year, a baby in tow, the room would be filled with toys and other infant necessities, her mother had warned her this much.

It was rather hot on Friday morning, and Ginny, about to write her final O.W.L. exam, was rather testy. This didn't much bother Harry, as she'd been like this all week, so he'd grown used to it. "Care for some toast, love?" he asked her at breakfast.

Ginny mumbled something about it being burnt and that the house elves never seemed to make toast properly, but she ate it nevertheless.

"Which O.W.L. do you have today?" Ron asked.

"Potions," she said, eating her actually perfectly cooked piece of toast and trying to hide the fact that she was really somewhat enjoying it. "I had Defense Against the Dark Arts yesterday. I think that's the one I did best in, but I messed a few things up so I'll probably only get an E. Oh, and _don't _get me started on Divination. We did tea reading, and I told her it looked like a blob of mush. Honestly, if I ever have to do this rubbish again..." Her tone was becoming increasingly heated.

"Ginny," Harry said softly. "The baby."

Ginny stopped her rant and took a deep calming breath. "Right," she said. "I'm just glad this'll be over by tomorrow."

"Yeah, and then we can do whatever you want," he said. "We'll celebrate you're finally being finished. I think there's a Hogsmeade visit scheduled tomorrow."

"Ooh, we could go buy things for the baby!" Ginny exclaimed, her mood suddenly lifting.

"Sure," Harry said. "Whatever you want."

xxx

Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron all followed the crowd out to Hogsmeade and sat together for a quick Butterbeer before they departed for shopping. Ginny, unfortunately, could not have any due to its low, but still present, alcohol content. She cursed the fact that she still had three months left until she could return to the simple pleasures that she never knew she'd miss. Like drinking Butterbeer, or flying on a broom, or fitting into regular clothes, or not being stared at wherever she went as people made the connexion between the youth they saw on her face and the bump they saw protruding from her shirt.

"Being pregnant sucks," she said as she took a sip of her water.

Ron laughed. "Really? I'm actually kind of jealous. You can eat all the food you want and no one can call you out on it. It's like an excuse to be fat!"

Ginny scoffed in return. "The novelty wares wears off, trust me."

The friends drank their Butterbeer and went their separate ways, Ron and Hermione to Honeydukes to stock up on sweets, and Harry and Ginny to Magical Babies 'r' Us to buy baby things.

"Oh, Harry, look at this," Ginny said, picking up a tiny blue sleeper. "Isn't it cute?"

"It's very cute, love." Harry agreed as he watched her place it in the overflowing cart. So far they had bought loads of baby clothes; a few blankets; and some cute baby toys that Ginny just couldn't resist. According to Ginny, this wasn't even a fraction of the things they'd need, but there was no point in buying everything here and having to lug them back home over the summer. Harry didn't understand how someone so small could need so much stuff, but he knew that between all her reading and daily writing to her mother, Ginny was now somewhat an expert on the subject of the things babies needed, and Harry, still completely clueless, listened to anything she said, as she was probably right.

"Ginny," he said as they made their way down the aisles. "You know, we really _could_ buy everything today, and use the reducing charm on them to bring them home. I mean, we could just shrink them to the size of doll furniture until we need them."

Ginny brightened at the idea. "Harry, that's brilliant. Come, let's get a cot," she said, dragging him by the hand to the furniture section.

They spent what seemed to Harry like an unnecessary amount of time choosing whether they should have a light oak cot or a dark pine cot. They all looked like wood to him. He did, however, enjoy picking out the patterns that they would be using for the linens. Apparently, moving pictures were not only limited to portraits on the walls, but could also be found in patterns on sheets. They picked one with cartoonish looking Hippogriffs that flew in circles around a castle. It was a light baby blue colour, which was not a problem, because there was really no question of what the gender of the baby was.

If Harry had thought babies needed ungodly amounts of stuff before, he was absolutely dumfounded now. They stood before the cash register with so many bags that despite the fact that they'd already had the store clerk shrink the big things for them, were being nearly pinned down by the weight of the bags. Ginny pulled out a coin purse filled with the small amount of money that her mother had sent her, but Harry simply shook his head and paid the cashier himself before Ginny could protest. Overloaded with bags, Harry and Ginny then, wishing they were allowed to use magic outside of school so that they could simply levitate the bags, went to the new Hogsmeade branch of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes to visit Fred and George.

"Hello sis," Fred called as Ginny and Harry entered the shop.

"Getting fatter, we see," George continued with a smirk.

"Still think she's lying," said Fred.

"Well hello to you too," Ginny replied drily. "What're you guys doing?" She asked as she observed the twins who were choking back hard blue sweets.

"Multiplying-" George said.

"Mints," Fred added. But it wasn't Fred, it was George. There were now two Georges standing in front of them. And two Freds. Now three, four, five.

"Impressive, isn't it?" The twins and their ten clones all said together.

Ginny shook her head, trying to figure out who were her real brothers from the horde. She could barely tell the Fred clones apart from the George clones. "Okay, could the real Fred and George please say something? I'm so confused right now."

"What's the problem sis?" They all asked. "I figured you'd be used to seeing us in multiples by now." They all laughed. After a few moments of laughing, ten of the twins began to flicker before disappearing altogether, leaving only one Fred and one George, still laughing in front of their sister and her boyfriend.

"That's brilliant," Harry said, heaving with laughter.

"You interested?" George asked.

"Only two sickles for a dozen," Fred added. "Except for Harry. Free as always, mate."

"I'll take two dozen," Harry said. "It'll be fun to play on Ron."

"Harry... Don't... it's... not... funny," Ginny struggled to say through giggles.

"We actually haven't pranked Ron yet," Fred said.

"You'll have to beat us to it," The twins said together.

Ginny laughed. "We'll work on that." She turned to Harry, who was already taking a bag of blue mints from George and trying to give him money for them, to no avail. "Harry," She said, placing a hand on her stomach. "Could we go to Honeydukes? I'm craving sugar."

"Sure love," Harry said, thanking Fred and George again for the mints.

"Leaving so soon?" Fred asked.

"We just dropped in to say hello," Ginny said.

"Okay then," said Fred.

"See you later Pregs," his twin called as the young couple picked up their bags once more and headed out into the busy main street of Hogsmeade.

"You know," Harry said as he and Ginny rifled through shelves of peculiar sweets. "If the baby comes out a prankster, I'm blaming it on prenatal influence from your brothers.

Ginny chuckled. "Me too." She spun around on her heels with the idea of kissing Harry passionately and telling him for the hundredth time about how excited she was for the baby to arrive; when she stumbled backward as she bumped into not her black haired green eyed boyfriend, but a pointed nosed curly haired witch clad in green.

"Well, look what we have here," Rita Skeeter said smirking. "If it isn't Miss Jenny Weasley; Harry Potter's little predicament."

"Ginny, let's go," Harry said, grabbing Ginny's hand from where he stood behind Rita Skeeter.

"Oh, and Mr Potter himself! Harry, dear, you wouldn't happen to have a few minutes to spare for a quick interview, would you?"

"No," He said flatly. "Now, if you'll excuse us..."

"What about you, Jenny?"

"It's Ginny," Ginny interjected flatly.

"Whatever. Do you have a few free moments?"

Ginny thought about it. On one hand, this woman was evil, and must be avoided if not destroyed. But on the other hand, what did she have to hide? Everyone knew about the baby by now, everyone was already spreading rumours. What did she have to lose, really? "Just a few moments?" Ginny asked hesitantly.

"Quicker than removing a plaster," She said with a wink and a sly smile.

"Ginny what are you-?"

His girlfriend cut him off before he could continue. "We're leaving soon, but there'll be another Hogsmeade visit- the final one- next weekend. I can speak then. Shall we say noon, at the Three Broomsticks?"

Rita smiled at her. "Excellent," she said, and with that she left the young couple, standing in the sweet shop, pinned down by bags surrounding them, Harry looking dumfounded.

"Why would you do that?" Harry asked confusedly.

"I have nothing to hide," said Ginny, with a blazing look on her face that Harry loved. "I want people to know that."


	20. The Interview

**Sorry for the wait! Shout out to my BetaReader for helping me out of a huge problem and fixing my plot hole. :D Also shout out to harrypottergirl99 for being super sweet. :)**

The Interview

The week had passed and Ginny and Harry now found themselves back in Hogsmede, sitting at a table at the Three Broomsticks, but without Ron and Hermione.

"You're mad," Hermione had told Ginny when she'd announced the interview. "That woman's insufferable, she'll tear you apart."

"I don't care if she does," Ginny had told her. "I'm tired of caring what other people think, I just want to prove to myself, and to her and to everyone else who reads her rubbish column that I'm not going to hide when I've nothing worth hiding."

Hermione and Ron had offered to accompany Ginny to the interview, but she'd insisted otherwise. It had even been a struggle for Harry to be allowed to be there. She'd assured him that she was, quote un-quote, "A big girl who can take care of herself," - something she'd told him many times before. Regardless, Harry wanted to be there, just in case. He persuaded her with chocolate and sexual favours.

So now here they were, Ginny still glowing from some of said sexual favours, which had taken place that morning, and Harry with his guard up, as if waiting for an attack. Ginny, in a great mood, feeling rather confident, and having never experienced an interview with this woman first hand, didn't quite understand why Harry was making such a big deal of it.

"Harry," she said, reaching under the table and taking his hand. "I'll be fine. She's just a reporter, she's not Satin's wife."

Harry looked confused for a moment before he snorted, "You mean _Satan_!" he said, amused. Sobering up quickly, he continued, "No, she's not Satan's wife, she's Satan's mistress. At least the wife has some class."

Ginny giggled and took a sip of her pumpkin juice. She'd been craving it like crazy lately. She figured the baby must like it.

The skinny, blond, green clad witch that could only be Rita Skeeter, entered the bar, ordered herself a drink and, spotting the young couple, made her way to Harry and Ginny's table.

"Glad to see you've shown up!" she said as she sat down. "I have to admit, I had my doubts." Pulling a piece of parchment and her enchanted quill out of her purse, she turned to Harry. "Oh! Did you change your mind and want an interview as well?"

"No," Harry said flatly. "I'm here to be with Ginny."

"Oh, do I detect a bit of over-dependence?"

Harry rolled his eyes and turned to his girlfriend. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes," Ginny said. She looked straight at Rita. "Let's get started."

"Of course," Rita said. She smiled in a way that Harry, with good reason, did not trust. "Right then, we'll start with the first question. When and where did you two meet? Was it the same night that the child was conceived? Give us all the juicy details?"

Ginny, glad to prove her wrong said, "Actually, we met six years ago. Harry and I know each other through my brother and his best friend Ron. And no, the baby wasn't conceived when I was ten."

"So you dated before you got pregnant?" The reporter sounded disbelieving. "For how long?"

Ginny thought about it, counting the months between August and January. "About six months. And we were close friends before that."

"I see," said Rita, leaning forward. Her enchanted quill was scribbling away on the parchment, nearly finishing the sheet. "So when was the 'magical night'?"

"You don't have to answer that," Harry said, keeping a strong glare on Rita.

"No, no, it's fine," Ginny said. "It was New Year's."

Rita smirked, "A tad too much champagne?"

"No," Ginny said firmly.

"Anyways," Rita continued, ignoring the offended ginger girl in front of her. "When and how did you find out? How did you tell Harry? What was your family's reaction to the scandal?"

Ginny flinched at the word 'scandal'. Why did people keep calling it that? For Merlin's sake, she was creating life, not robbing Gringotts or cheating on her husband. "Well," she started. "A little over a month after New Year's, I was feeling really sick, and I was late on my cycle, and my friend Hermione pointed out that I could be pregnant. I was so surprised I didn't even know what to think. It hadn't even occurred to me that I could be-"

"Really? With your family's track record? Honestly, I would assume that Harry only has to wink at you to get you up the duff. How could it have never crossed your mind?"

"That's a rude question," Harry said.

"Pity," Rita said. "How he always seems to stop us before we get to the good part. My apologies for the bluntness, Carry on."

Ginny, feeling slightly insulted, continued. "I told him I was pregnant, and he was really surprised, but he was supportive. We decided to keep the baby."

"And how did your family react to this?"

Ginny suppressed a giggle. "Well, Harry and my brother Ron had a bit of a disagreement." She cast a look at Harry, who smiled briefly.

"A duel?" Rita asked hopefully.

Ginny snickered. "No, not really. And my parents were disappointed, but they were understanding."

"They didn't disown you or kick you out of the house or anything?"

"No," Ginny said flatly.

Rita gave a little sigh. "Pity." She pushed her glasses up her nose and leaned forward some more, linking her hands together. "So how is it that this 'little miracle' came to be? Didn't either of you think to use some sort of contraceptive charm or potion?"

Harry was surprised. There were _spells_ for that? And all this time he'd thought himself an idiot for not wearing a condom. Now he felt even more stupid. He looked at Ginny who was absolutely scarlet with embarrassment. "No," he answered for her.

"Must have been the alcohol," Rita deducted.

"No, we-" Ginny tried to interject. For Merlin's sake, she was totally sober!

"So," Rita cut her off. "Do either of you think that, given the chance to go back, you would change the way everything turned out? Stop this whole mess up from happening?"

"Our baby's not a mess up," Ginny said. "And no, I would never go back and change this. Ever."

Rita smirked, "Sure, sure. But you'd expect that from the mother. What about you Harry? Would you snag the chance to change it?"

"No," Harry said firmly. "Not in a million years."

"I see," said Rita, picking at her nails in a bored manner. Clearly she'd been hoping for something much different than what she'd heard. "So when is the baby due, Jesse?"

"It's Ginny."

"Whatever. Come now, dates."

"Well, we don't have an official date, but it'll be around the end of September or early October."

"Hmm," She still seemed bored. Suddenly she brightened up. "So any plans for a wedding before then?"

Harry and Ginny exchanged a glance. "Er, we um..." Ginny said in a jumbled manner. Were they getting married? They hadn't spoken about it. Admittedly, she'd thought about it many times; slipping a ring on her finger, saying "I do," kissing Harry and being his forever. She would be his wife, his partner for life, Mrs. Potter. It was an odd but beautiful thought.

"That's personal information," Harry said.

"Harry, I do seem to recall you saying that you didn't want an interview." Rita gave him a wry smile. Looking at Ginny now, she said, "We can talk later if you've changed your mind, but right now I was asking Jamie."

"_Ginny_. And we, er, haven't discussed it."

Rita tisked. "Kids these days. No commitment." She turned back to Harry. "Since you're so eager to speak, why don't you tell the readers; what do you think your dead parents would say - were if they were alive - about your situation with Joni here?"

_"Ginny. _G-I-N-N-Y," Ginny spelled it aloud. "Gin-ny."

Rita ignored her and stared at Harry expectantly.

Harry looked from his girlfriend to the reporter, choosing his words carefully. "I think," he said in a proud but sour tone. "That they would be extremely proud and pleased to know that I've chosen such a smart, beautiful, kind, independent, and all around wonderful girl to be the mother of my child and potential wife." He smiled at Ginny and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Ginny smiled back at him and rubbed her large belly. The baby kicked very hard, and Ginny could not only feel it, but also see her skin bump up as it happened. Harry beamed at the sight and placed his free hand on Ginny's belly to feel the baby's movement.

There was a flash of light as Rita Skeeter took a picture of the young couple. "Well Harry, Julie, I think that's all we need for today. Thank you for your time, you'll be seeing the article soon." She picked up her bag and left, magical quill and parchment in hand.

"What should we do now?" Ginny asked, sighing and resting her head against Harry's chest.

Harry chuckled. "I don't know, Julie. How about another pumpkin juice?"

Ginny punched him in the arm playfully before giggling and standing up to buy herself her seventh glass of pumpkin juice for the day.


	21. Soft

Soft

Molly Weasley stood in her kitchen, cutting vegetables for a soup, and thinking about her children, as well as Arthur, who has just left for work about an hour prior. She hummed to herself as she delighted in the warm morning sunshine that poured in through her kitchen window.

There came a small tap at the window, as if something had hit it, and then a ruffling sound outside. Molly looked up from her cutting board and peered out into the bright daylight. There was nothing there. She shrugged and went back to her chopping, assuming that it was probably just a bird hitting the glass.

It was the loud cracking sound coming from upstairs that caused her to place her knife down on the counter and make her way toward the stairs, pulling her wand out of the pocket of her apron as she went.

She could never have prepared herself for what greeted her at the top of the stairs.

xxx

"Its rubbish, but I didn't expect any different," Ginny told Harry of after reading Rita Skeeter's article the morning it came out, about a fortnight after her interview.

"Well, let me see it," said Harry, reaching across the table for her copy of _The Daily Prophet. _

Ginny shrugged. "It's not that interesting."

"I want to see it anyways."

"Okay," she said indifferently as she passed the paper to him.

Harry's eyes scanned the paper, taking in the words.

_Future Mrs Potter Speaks Out About Her Pregnancy_

_A baby and wedding bells on the way; __writes Rita Skeeter, Head Journalist for _The Daily Prophet. _Harry Potter; The-Boy-Who-Lived, and his expectant girlfriend, Ginny Wilson-_

Harry looked up and smirked. "At least she got your first name right this time." Ginny laughed and ate a spoonful of porridge. Harry turned his eyes back the paper.

_- have announced that they not only couldn't be happier or more excited about the baby on the way, but also plan on soon tying the knot. 'We understand that we've made mistakes, but we'll get through it. And we just know that getting married is just the right thing to do right now,' Says Harry Potter. Ginny seems to share her fiancé's excitement. 'We're star crossed lovers,' she exclaims. 'We were meant to be together.' Though the young ginger girl may be right, reader's readers might be correct in assuming that their hasty marriage has to do with the shame they feel when thinking of their child's coming to be. 'It was a mistake,' Admits the couple. 'We were both too drunk to really consider our actions.' But darkness may shadow their baby bliss. Ginny seems to be rather dependent on Harry, and perhaps too excited for the baby's arrival. Could pregnant little Ginny be hiding a big secret? Had this all been a plan to trap poor Harry? Only time will tell. But for now, here's hoping for a happy marriage for the young Harry and Ginny, and hoping even more that they'll let us in on the details. _

Harry sighed and looked up, folding the paper and placing it on the table next to his plate of toast. "Sometimes I wonder if she's even _capable_ of writing an accurate story without being blackmailed into it."

Ginny giggled. "It's alright Harry, it's exactly what I expected. At least people know now that I'm happy about the whole thing."

"I S'pose so," Harry said, taking a sip of pumpkin juice and watching Ginny cringe as he did so. She'd been absolutely in love with the stuff last week and this week couldn't stand to have it within one hundred feet of her. Harry sighed and put his glass down as far away from Ginny as possible, making a mental note to wash his mouth out before the next time he kissed her. _Pregnant women are weird_, he thought.

Ron, who was unknowingly sipping pumpkin juice next to Harry as his sister made disgusted faces at him from across the table, spoke with a mouth full of breakfast. "Why do y'reckon she waited two weeks to publish it?"

Harry thought about it. "Good question."

"Well, it's obvious, really," Hermione said, looking up from her book, titled, _A Brief History of Magical Education, and Why Ours is Better, _by_ Armando Dippet. _"Rita Skeeter likes to have the front page, and with last week's daily articles on the recent Death Eater attacks, this wouldn't have made the cut. Now that everything has calmed down she can publish it and know that she's getting the public's full attention."

"Death Eater attacks?" Ginny asked, looking up from her bowl and wrapping her arms around her stomach.

"Yeah, all last week," Ron said.

Harry shot Ron a look that made him stop talking. Ginny didn't notice. "Why didn't I know about it?"

"Well, you don't read _The Prophet_..." Hermione said hastily.

"Well this is kind of important, why didn't anyone tell me?"

"We didn't want to worry," Harry said gently. "I'm supposed to make sure you don't, remember?"

Ginny huffed and placed her hands on her hips. "I can handle this one."

"It's nothing serious yet," Hermione said. "There's no need for worry."

"_Tell me_," Ginny insisted.

Hermione sighed. "They're looking for people right now. No one's been reported dead yet, but a few have been reported missing..."

"So until things get worse it's no big deal, okay?" Harry said, placing a hand on Ginny's shoulder.

Ginny shrugged and ate another spoonful of porridge. "Just don't keep me out of the loop on these things. I'm not that fragile," she mumbled. "And besides, I'm safer if I know what's going on."

Ron took another sip of pumpkin juice, gulping loudly.

Ginny snapped her head up. "Oh, for Merlin's sake Ron, just _finish_ it already!"

"Finish what?"

"That revolting juice!"

Ron gave her a quizzical look, quickly finished his drink, and placed his goblet firmly on the table. "You know," he said, turning to Harry. "I'll be happy when this is all over, and we can all make fun of Ginny about it."

Harry struggled to hide a chuckle. "Come on," he said. "We've got our last Defence Against the Dark Arts class of the year to get to."

"Alright," Ginny said, heaving herself up from the table. The rest of the group followed. "I've got Potions, I'll see you guys at lunch." The friends bid their adieus to Ginny and went their separate way.

It was the last week of school. Today was Tuesday and classes would be out in only three days. Ginny was excited for the summer. Harry would, of course, be staying with her family at The Burrow, and she couldn't wait to be able to spend time with him without having to think about class or homework. All they had to concentrate on was the baby, and nothing else. The idea delighted Ginny, and she had a great mood all through Potions.

"That's one big baby you've got there," Madame Pomfrey commented with a smile. "Very healthy."

Harry smiled at Ginny and gently rubbed her shoulder. The three of them were all looking up at a floating image of a baby- identically resembling an 'ultrasound scan' which Harry had recognized from muggle television programs - shooting out of Madame Pomfrey's wand, which was placed against Ginny's large stomach.

The child on the screen was much larger than it had been at Ginny's last scan two months ago, and she and Harry could see and distinguish every part of his tiny body. It wouldn't be long now before the tiny infant on the screen would be in their arms. Ginny was nearly seven months along now, she only had a few months of waiting left.

"He looks like you already," Ginny said to Harry, smiling up at him.

Harry chuckled. "Really? I think he looks like a foetus."

"Oh, don't be modest," Ginny said. "Look, he has your nose, see?" She pointed up at the floating image.

Harry stared at the image of his son in awe. "Yeah, I suppose he does."

"Alright," Ms Pomfrey said with a smile as she lifted her wand from Ginny's large belly. The image disappeared like mist being blown away. "Since school is pretty much over, you'll have to have your next healer's appointment at St Mungo's. When you come back in September you'll have your last appointment with me, but we'll have you Floo to St Mungo's to deliver because we're just not equipped for a delivery here."

"Alright," Ginny said, standing up and pulling her shirt back down over her stomach. "Thank you Madame Pomfrey."

"Yes, thank you," Harry added.

"No problem dears," Madame Pomfrey said, and she waved them away.

"Harry?" Ginny said as they walked down the corridor toward Gryffindor tower, her hands were crossed over her stomach and while Harry with had his hands in his pockets.

"Hm?" Harry responded.

"You don't...?" She paused. "You don't believe what Rita said in her article do you?"

"Which part?"

"You don't think I'm trying to trap you, right? Or use you?" she asked sheepishly.

Harry laughed. "Ginny, with the amount that you're going through to carry my son, I'd say I'm using you. I mean, I would never be able to handle the swollen ankles or pumpkin juice aversions..."

Ginny nearly gagged. "Don't say pumpkin juice! But seriously, Harry."

"Ginny, love," Harry said, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her in closely. "That woman writes rubbish. You know that, I know that, everyone knows that. And besides," he smiled. "If you are using me," he said sarcastically. "I'm happy to be used."

Ginny giggled. "Well in that case I may start using you more."

"Don't push it," Harry said jokingly. "I can't close down the pumpkin juice company for you."

Ginny smirked. "Couldn't you try?"

"Unfortunately," said harry Harry as he stepped into through the portrait hole, Ginny close behind him. "You're the only freak of nature who doesn't like it."

They made their way up the stairs and into their room, changing quickly into the pyjamas and getting into their bed. The two of them had lost track of time, and it was now near nine o'clock. Normally, they would have stayed up until midnight or at least eleven, but lately Ginny was exhausted by eight or nine, and Harry, not wanting her to feel left out, started going to bed at the same time.

"I can't wait until he's born," Ginny whispered.

"Me neither," said Harry as he reached to turn off the light. He wrapped his arms around Ginny and pulled her small, but swollen body against his own.

Ginny sighed and curled herself closer against him so that his hands came to rest on her belly. "Do you think I'll be a good mother?" she asked him quietly.

Harry felt her warm skin against his, he breathed in the smell of her lavender shampoo and lily-of-the-valley perfume. Everything about her was soft, from her voice, to her touch to her floral scent, to the way she moved. Soft was, to Harry - a boy who'd grown up in a home where everything was harsh - what a mother should be. "Undoubtedly," He whispered, and they drifted off to sleep.


	22. The Mother & The Great Dissapearing Act

**I know, my chapters are usually shorter than most, but this one is a whole new level, especially after I made you wait. Sorry about that, I just couldn't get more in, I'm saving everything for the next chapters. Hope you like it!**

The Mother and The Great Disappearing Act 

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, once again filing through paper work. He sighed. These days, it seemed that this was all he did. He didn't mind repeatedly signing his name on things, if it was something that he found generally interesting, but nowadays it seemed that the information was becoming repetitive and the signing was becoming tedious - even if it was done magically. It was days like these that Dumbledore, feeling felt great resentment for his tasks and, almost yearned for the events that he knew would have to happen, and soon.

But he forced it out of his mind. Dumbledore was a cheery man with great responsibility. He couldn't let thoughts like these dampen his spirit or distract him from his obligations. The mage scratched his head and peered expectantly into his fireplace which had made a curious sound that he knew all too well. The flames turned green and out popped the head of an irritated looking Molly Weasley, sneering at the floor.

"Molly?" Dumbledore asked, looking at the short and pleasantly plump woman before him. She was almost unfamiliar in the way that her face showed no sign of its usual warmth.

Molly looked up quickly, as if startled, and her face shifted into one that was trying to look pleasant.

"Well, hello Professor Dumbledore," Molly said with an oddly forced smile.

Dumbledore stood to greet her. He smiled warmly. "What brings you here, Molly?"

She paused from a moment and then cleared her throat. "I've come to get my daughter Ginny."

Dumbledore looked at her quizzically. "Come to get her? But why? She'll be on the train home day after tomorrow."

"She's with child Dumbledore, we can't have her running around outside of the castle and riding trains while there are Death Eaters attacking people left right and centre." Her face moved in an odd way, as if she was suppressing an emotion or expression, but Dumbledore couldn't make out what it was.

"Molly, I assure you, she'll be quite safe on the train-"

"Listen," She said in a voice that would be intimidating to most other people. "She's my daughter and I need to protect her. She's coming home with me."

The red haired witch and elderly wizard stared at each other for a brief moment while Dumbledore thought it over. Molly, in the time that he'd known her, had never been a woman who took no for an answer, especially when it came to protecting her children. And he had no reason not to trust her, especially with her own daughter. Besides, she had a point.

"Very well," Dumbledore said finally. "Should I summon her, or-"

"No need," Mrs Weasley said. She withdrew her head only to step out of the fireplace a moment later. Without looking at Dumbledore, she headed to the door. "I'll get her." And without so much as a goodbye or a thank you, she left. Dumbledore, shaking his head at her odd behavior, sat back down in his chair and went back to his work.

xxx

It started off a regular morning, just like any other. Ginny and Harry awoke, got out of and made their bed, exchanged a good morning kiss, and headed down to the common room where they met Ron and Hermione, who joined them as they made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. At breakfast they discussed the coming summer holidays, and the train ride that was to come in two days.

After breakfast Ron and Hermione headed to their classes, and Harry gave Ginny a quick peck before leaving her to join them. Ginny, feeling heavily pregnant; heaved herself up from the table and headed out into the corridor - set to go to the Gryffindor common room and read for a bit, seeing as classes, for her, were over.

She was just turning in to the main hall area when she was jerked away, being pulled by her shoulder to the side. She spun her head around to see who had grabbed her. Her jaw dropped.

"Mum?" She nearly stammered. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I've come to take you home," Her mother said in a stern manner.

"Why?" Ginny asked. "I'll be in home in a few days."

"Ginny, you're in danger, I'll explain it all later, now come with me!" She was pulling her again. There was something odd about the tone of her voice.

Ginny, bewildered by the sudden rush of events, followed her mother up the stairs, and away.

xxx

"Where's Ginny?" Harry asked when lunch time had come and gone and she'd yet to turn up.

Ron shrugged. "Maybe she got distracted by something. She's easily distracted, that girl."

"She's probably doing extra work with her teachers so that when the baby comes she won't fall behind too much," Hermione suggested.

This seemed reasonable, and Harry put the issue past behind him as he proceeded through the rest of his day. It was when she was again absent at dinner that he started to worry. With growing anxiety, Harry began to search the hall for her. Something was very wrong, he could feel it.

Things only got worse when he returned early to their dorm that night to find her once again absent. He rushed back down to the common room to consult Ron and Hermione on the matter, but they didn't seem too concerned.

"She's probably just running late," Hermione said. "Or maybe her morning sickness came back and she's having a sick bout. Go to bed Harry, you'll see her by in the morning.

"She's right," Ron agreed. "But you can wait up with us if you want. I won't be turning in for a while."

This sounded like a better idea. So Harry sat up with his friends for another two hours, talking and waiting for Ginny to arrive, but before they knew it, it was very late and Ron and Hermione both headed up. Harry, feeling a heavy sense of worry, went up as well. He'd planned on sitting in the armchair and waiting for her there, but when he entered the room he looked longingly at the bed and finally decided that he would lay there and wait. The moment his head hit thee pillow his eyes started to feel quite heavy and it wasn't long before he drifted off to sleep.

His dreams didn't consist of much that night; just blankness and dark spaces and the same words, spoken in Ginny's soft voice, repeated over and over again in his head; _"If we're important you'll come find us." _

xxx

Ginny was following her mother down a narrow, dimly lit hallway, begging for an explanation that would not come. "Please Mum!" she exclaimed as her mother bustled her along. "Just tell me what this is all about!"

Her mother ignored her, just pushed onward. Finally they approached a small, rather anticlimactic looking door. "In," she mumbled.

Ginny confusedly obeyed. When she steeped stepped into the room, she saw that it wasn't much better lit than the hallways and rather dirty, with dust everywhere and broken things scattered about. She silently thought that there was no way her mother could ever spend more than ten minutes in here without feeling the uncontrollable need to scrub the walls and floor.

"Mum, what...?" She asked, turning around on her heels. Her jaw dropped in a mixture of shock and horror.

Her mum's face was twisting in an odd, almost frightening way. She cackled loudly. "I am _not_ you mother!"


	23. Expergio

**The name is explained at the bottom. **

Expergio

When Harry awoke the next morning to the room empty once more, his heart sank. He looked around the room hopelessly as a shocking conclusion came to him. She was gone. He wasn't sure where she'd went or why, but she sure as hell wasn't here. Dressing quickly, he nearly ran downstairs, only stopping when Hermione and Ron called after him while he was on his way out.

"Did she finally turn up?" Ron asked in a cheerfully unaware tone.

"No," Harry said flatly.

Suddenly Ron and Hermione's faces creased with worry. Ron stood up straighter. Harry could see him shifting from regular brother to protective big brother mode. "Where could she be?" He asked. "Has anyone seen her?"

"I don't know," Harry said. "But I'm gonna find out." He left his two best friends standing outside the portrait to Gryffindor tower and he could feel their eyes on him as her walked away.

He knew exactly where he needed to go, who he needed to see. He was moving so mindlessly that he nearly tripped on the trick step in the staircase case. He walked through many corridors and finally approached Professor Dumbledore's office. In the time that it took him to try to guess the password, the Headmaster emerged from the stairs, clearly on his way to breakfast. "Good morning Harry," Dumbledore said.

"Good morning Professor," Harry replied respectfully.

"Just the person I wanted to see, I've been meaning to speak to you. Where is your friend Ron, I need to speak to him as well."

"Is it about Ginny?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "I suppose you've noticed her absence."

"Er, yeah. Where's she gone?"

"Her mother came yesterday to take her home," Dumbledore said nonchalantly as the pair made their way to the Great Hall.

"Take her home?" Harry asked. "But school ends tomorrow."

"Molly seemed very intent on it. She was extremely worried about having Ginny walking around out in the open and riding the train in her state with all the recent danger about."

Harry thought about that. It seemed somewhat reasonable that Mrs Weasley would think like this. "So... she's just gone home?" Harry asked.

"Yes," said Dumbledore. "And I'm sure you'll be seeing her soon enough. So there is no need to worry. If that changes, please let me know."

They approached the Great Hall. It was decorated for the last day. "Enjoy your summer, Harry," Dumbledore said, and he headed for the staff table.

Harry, feeling less than reassured, took his seat in between Hermione and Ron at the Gryffindor table, making a mental note to write Ginny later, just to be sure. Ron opened his mouth - probably, Harry assumed, to ask about Ginny, but no sooner than he did so did the owls arrive with the post. Harry looked up for Hedwig, but did not see her. He was about to serve himself a few sausages when a black screech owl landed in front of him, its 's beak pointed high at the ceiling. Harry cautiously took the letter from the owl's leg and it fluttered into the air and soared away.

"Who's it from?" Hermione asked.

Harry shrugged. "I dunno. It doesn't say." He unsealed the letter and rolled it out in front of himself. His eyes ran over the words over and over again. He couldn't believe what it said. He jumped to his feet and dropped the latter on the table. "I have to go!" He said and he hurried away.

Hermione confusedly picked up the parchment. Her eyes went wide.

"What?" Ron asked nervously. "What is it?"

"It... It says..."

"What?"

Hermione cleared her throat and spoke in a low, nervous voice. "Here, read it." She pushed the parchment toward him.

Ron read the sentence in horror.

_If you ever want to see your pretty little ginger again, come to the Shrieking Shack as soon as possible, and be ready to fight._

Ron and Hermione darted out of the Great Hall after Harry, leaving their breakfast behind. They caught him just as he was about to head out the doors into the grounds. "Harry!" Hermione shouted. He didn't stop, and his friends had to grab him and drag him back into the castle.

"Let me go!" Harry shouted. "I need to save her!"

"Harry!" Hermione said, holding her friend back as he thrashed for the door. He was much stronger than she'd thought, and so Ron was doing most of the work. "Harry, you're not helping her by running over there right now! The letter said be ready to fight, you're not ready to fight right now!"

"Oh, I'll give him a fight!" Harry said darkly.

"We need a plan!" Hermione said.

"I can do this!" Harry shouted back.

"Well you're not doing it without us," Ron said. "She's my sister, mate."

Harry saw Ron shudder slightly and his eyes glaze over in memory. Harry knew that Ron was thinking about the time in second year when Professor McGonagall had said that his little sister had been taken into the chamber of secrets and he was unable to help out since he was stuck in the tunnel shifting rocks while Harry had gone inside alone.

Hermione took advantage of Harry's distraction and directed him away from the door. "Okay," she said. "We need a plan of attack. How are we going to get in there without accidentally showing them the hidden passage into the castle, and what are we going to do when we _do _get there?"

Ron eyed a teacher who was staring at them from across the hall. "Why don't we talk about it somewhere else?" he said. "There are too many people listening here."

"Good idea," said Hermione, and with the help of her boyfriend she guided Harry up the stairs and toward Gryffindor tower.

xxx

Ginny sat in a chair staring down at her stomach. _I'll get us out of this, baby, _she thought. _Daddy will come save us._ She looked up nervously at the door. Nothing was binding her to the room; she could leave if she wanted to, but she'd been warned.

"Go on, walk right out," Bellatrix Lestrange had said, not long after morphing out of her disguise as Molly Weasley; who was curled up sleeping in the corner. She was under a sleeping spell, Ginny could tell. "But you'll lose your spawn if you do." The witch had informed her in a maliciously. humoured voice.

"What?" Ginny had asked.

As it turned out, there door had a hex on it that would cause any pregnant witch who walked through it to miscarry. It was the same spell that they used at St Mungo's on women who chose to end their pregnancy. "How do I know you're not lying?" Ginny had asked defiantly.

Bellatrix smirked and crossed her arms. "Why don't you try it, and let me know," she said with a sadistic laugh.

So now Ginny sat in her chair, staring at the door, holding her stomach protectively, and ignoring Bellatrix as she paced circles around her and shouted insults. "Filthy blood traitor!" She cackled, and she spat that the rather pregnant girl sitting in the chair in front of her. Ginny didn't respond. "Stupid little whore. Where's your little boyfriend now?" She sneered, making a point of bumping Ginny harshly with her hip.

"You know, when my lord asked me to do this, I thought, 'Oh goodie, I get to take care of the skank.' And I was right. You know, I remember your family from my Lord's last rise to power. Your blood traitor family put up way too much of a fight."

The insane Death Eater smirked and cackled. "Can't say I'm really surprised about the way this all played out. Your mother had a hard time keeping her legs closed too, didn't she?"

Ginny sat silently in defiance.

"Hm," Bellatrix said. "No answer? Well maybe we'll ask mummy." She turned around and pointed her wand at (the real) Molly Weasley, who was still slumped on the floor, sleeping. "Expergio," Bellatrix shouted and a deep purple beam of light shot from her wand. Molly was jerked awake. She looked around the room in a horrified manner.

"Ginny!" She shouted when she caught sight of her daughter.

"Crucio!" Bellatrix shouted. Molly screamed a blood curdling scream and crumpled to the floor, writhing in pain.

"Stop!" Ginny shouted. "Please! Stop it!"

Bellatrix laughed. "I'll stop when you admit it." She turned twisted her wand in her hand. Molly Weasley cried in agony and moved in a jerky manner, tears pouring down her face.

"Admit what?"

"That you're a whore, and a blood traitor!"

"Okay! Anything!" Ginny said pleadingly. "I'm a whore, and a blood traitor, and I'm unworthy of the presence of other pure bloods!" She added the last part in, in hopes that it might help.

Bellatrix lowered her wand and Molly stopped moving.

"Mum!" Ginny screamed. She ran toward her. Molly was panting and sweating and her face was redder than her hair. She looked absolutely distraught and exhausted, but no longer in pain at least.

"G-Ginny." she said. She pulled herself off the floor and tried to stand, to no avail. Ginny assisted her. "Wh-where are we?" She asked, trying to compose herself. "Wh-who cast the...?" She looked up to see Bellatrix laughing at her from across the room. "You," she said in a dry voice.

"Hello mummy," Bellatrix said mockingly.

Molly reached into her dirty apron and pulled out her wand, pointing it at the witch facing her. Bellatrix looked rather surprised for a moment, mumbling something along the lines of 'thought I disarmed her,' then laughed again and walked toward her. "You wouldn't," she said. She got so close that Molly's wand was just inches away from her chest. "Molly dear," the witch said. "I've gotten what I needed from you. You can go if you like. But your little slag wants to stay here."

Molly threw her shoulders back. "What did you just call my daughter?"

"I called her," Bellatrix said, grabbing Ginny by the collar of her shirt and pulling her toward the door. "Exactly what she is." Ginny screamed and as the witch held her dangerously close to the frame, so that her belly nearly went through.

Molly rose raised her wand once more. "Mum, don't!" Ginny shouted. Bellatrix cackled and pulled Ginny back, dropping her to the floor.

"Do _not_ touch my daughter!" Molly yelled.

"Or you'll what?" Bellatrix asked. "Clean me to death? Perhaps shoot another baby out of you and hit me with it?" She shrieked in amusement. "You and you filthy muggle lover loving family are worse than mud bloods. I bet you don't have one ounce of dark magic ability in you. Go ahead, try and hurt me. I'll just push this little tart through that door and poof," she made a motion with her hands. "Dead baby."

Molly was absolutely livid. She clutched her hand tighter around her wand. "Mum, don't, please," Ginny said. "Listen to her." She watched carefully as her mother lowered her wand, but did not put it away. Ginny stood and went to stand with her mother.

Bellatrix laughed once again. She seemed to find the whole ordeal quite funny. "Well now that _that's _settled," she said. "Why hasn't your famous boyfriend shown up to save you yet?" Her tone was taunting. "Maybe he doesn't miss you. Maybe he's glad to be rid of the burden. He might even be shagging another girl as we speak."

Ginny swallowed the urge to retaliate.

"Honestly, when I heard about you I have to say I was expecting a little more. I mean, the famous Harry Potter..." she was now walking circles around Ginny, making faces at her. "He could have any girl he likes really. But for some odd reason he chose you. Why? Look at you, you've got hideous girly freckles, a boyish body, and your hair is almost as red as the periods you're not getting.

"But obviously he's found some sense, because you've been gone for about a day, and he must have known where we are for at least an hour now, but still," she gestured around the room. "No Harry."

Ginny clenched her face fists and glared at her. She opened her mouth to shout but was interrupted by her mother.

"Ginny, ignore her, she's trying to get you to react. That's what she wants!" Molly said.

Bellatrix sighed and stormed toward the mother. "You have been wearing on my nerves. If you hadn't been to so stubborn and put up such a fight at your home, you wouldn't have to be here. I could have cast a memory charm and been on my way. But no, you had to go and fight. Are you sure you want to do it again, Molly?"

"I would fight a thousand times before giving into to the likes of you!" Molly spat back.

"Somnius!" Bellatrix shouted, pointing her wand at Molly.

"Protego!" Molly cast at the same time. The spell ricocheted and Bellatrix fell backward, collapsing unconsciously onto the floor.

Molly and Ginny moved hesitantly toward her and observed the still woman on the floor.

"Will she stay asleep?" Ginny asked.

"No," Molly replied. "It's just a reflection of the spell, its effects are only temporary."

"So... an hour, maybe?" Ginny asked.

Molly nodded. "Enough time to find a way out of here."

"I can't leave," Ginny said firmly. "I'm not walking through that door."

"Ginny, dear, you're a witch. Act like one."

"What-"

She was interrupted by her mother saying, "Bombarda Maxima!" with her wand aimed straight at the wall. A yellow beam shot out of her wand like a line of fire, and hit the wall. The spell bounced off and hit the floor, where it bounced again, shooting up to hit the ceiling, causing the same result once more. The spell zapped around the room many times before Molly finally lowered her wand, causing the beam to die off. She sighed. "The walls have been jinxed to deflect charms."

"Of course," Ginny said. "Well that makes one thing certain."

"And what is that?"

"She's probably not lying. I'm not going through that door." Ginny sighed, wiping her brow and turning to the unconscious Bellatrix lying on the floor. "What should we do about her?"

Molly shrugged. "Well we can't let her have the upper hand when she wakes up." She levitated the witch into the armchair and cast a binding spell, causing magical snakelike ropes to wrap around Bellatrix's body, tying her to the chair. She ended by casting, "Stupefy," on her with a satisfied look on her face.

Ginny walked toward her and pulled Bellatrix's wand out of her still clutched hand, slipping it into her own pocket. "Can't let her keep that," she said.

Molly looked around the room. "So, if we can't walk through the door, and we can't blast our way out, then what do we do?"

"We wait." Ginny replied.

"Just wait here to be rescued?" Molly asked, dumfounded.

"Harry will come for us soon enough," she said.

"But what if-"

There was a loud cracking sound, and suddenly four men in dark robes with hoods were standing in front of the mother daughter pairing. "Who-" Molly tried to say.

"Trouble," Ginny said, and they watched the men move toward them.

**In case you were wondering, 'Expergio' and 'Somnius' are just random spells that I made up. Somnius knocks people out, and Expergio reverses Somnius. I made them from the Latin words 'somnum' and 'expergefactus' which mean sleep and awake. I thought it was clever for that title because they're all waking up to the truth. Funny? No? Meh, I make myself laugh. Thanks for reading :D**


	24. Plans and Hostages

**QUESTION:**** So, I'm planning ahead for some chapters later on, and I want to know what you guys would like me to write into a chapter. Review of PM me with suggestions, then I'll make a poll with them. **

Plans and Hostages

Harry Ron and Hermione sat in Harry and Ginny's shared dorm room, staring at the clock on the bedside table. Ron had his face in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. He asked himself repetitively how he could have been so stupid and not put as much thought into it as Harry had as early as he had, especially as the war was starting. Hermione sympathized with him, as she was feeling the same.

They had established that Ginny had been taken by a death eater disguised as her mother, and that it had to have been pollyjuice potion if they'd been able to convince Dumbledore. Harry had wondered briefly what could have possibly been on the Headmaster's mind at the time for him not to have taken precautions and asked the supposed 'Molly' to prove herself.

They spent a great deal of time wondering how they could have gotten Molly's DNA to make the potion, and how the ministry didn't know that there were Death Eaters entering Hogwarts, as the Floo network was monitored, and no potion could hide you from that. Both were explained when an owl came flying in the window.

"Oh," Hermione had said, pulling the newspaper away from the bird and dropping a knut into its pouch. "I guess I left at breakfast before it could deliver the paper to me. She was about to toss it aside, when she noticed a familiar name on the cover. Her eyes went wide as she flattened the paper out and read the title of the cover page.

_Floo Network Shut Down When Monitoring Was Countered Yesterday. Death Eater Activity Suspected_

"That explains it," Hermione said.

"What?" Harry asked.

"They countered the monitor on the Floo Network. The ministry was completely blind to who was Flooing where yesterday, that's how they did it." She allowed her eyes to drift down the page until they met the familiar name she'd seen. It was a small article at the bottom of the page.

_Molly Weasley, Mother of Seven, Missing. First Pure Blood Disappearance. _

Hermione gasped and looked up, clapping her hand over her mouth.

"What is it?" Ron asked.

"It...It's..."

"Well spit it out," Ron said.

"You're mother," Hermione said. "She's missing."

Ron's face went white as a ghost and he looked as though he might faint. First his sister, now his mother. How could this be happening?

"They've taken her," Harry said. "That's how they got her DNA. When we find Ginny, we'll find her."

It was after this that the three friends launched into their plan. Now, they were just waiting for a good time to leave. They couldn't go midday; they would be seen, and then - as Hermione finally convinced the boys - they would be no help to any one. They also couldn't leave too late at night, they couldn't leave them there for that long, merlin only knew what they were doing to them. No, it was decided that in order for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to get the upper hand on this, they would leave at three, while everyone was in class.

So the trio, having started their planning at just past ten, now had five hours to kill, and they used most of it to smooth out their plan until it was nearly, if not completely, airtight and fool proof. With still an hour to go, they headed down to Dumbledore's office, to inform him on the issue.

He was legitimately surprised, something that Harry was not used to seeing in Dumbledore. He'd asked them many questions, and they'f tried to answer as much as they could, but to be completely honest with themselves, they were shooting in the dark here. Harry debated with him over whether or not someone from the Order, or even a Hogwarts staff, should go in with them, but Harry finally convinced the head master that no, this would be something they would have to do alone. They compromised and Dumbledore insisted that a few Order members would be standing guard outside, waiting for the okay to enter.

"We should go now," Harry said, glancing at the large clock on the office wall.

Hermione, Ron, and Dumbledore all looked up at the clock. "Yeah," Ron agreed. "Let's go."

"I will have people standing guard," Dumbledore said again. "And be safe. Remember, you're no help to anyone if you're injured."

"That's what I said," Hermione mumbled.

"Good luck," Dumbledore told them, and they left the room. Harry didn't know it at the time, but those would be the last words the Headmaster ever said to him.

The three friends sped out the door, down the stairs and toward the exit. Once out in the courtyard, they dodged swings from the Whomping Willow as they looked around for a stick to prod its naught with. Harry looked around quickly to insure that there was no one around to see them, then her threw the invisibility cloak over himself and pulled Ron and Hermione under it. "Ready?" He asked. Ron and Hermione nodded.

"And we're sure of the plan?" Hermione chimed in. More nods."We've brought what we need? Ron, do you have the-"

"Let's go already!" Ron said impatiently.

"Alright, alright," Hermione agreed, and she poked the tree's naught with the stick in her hand and suddenly the huge tree stopped moving. She, Ron, and Harry moved quickly into the hidden tunnel underneath it.

They ran through the long tunnel up to the Shrieking Shack, occasionally tripping on stones and tree branches all along the way. They finally approached a door and exchanged determined looks before Harry reached forward and creaked the door open, and they all stepped in.

xxx

Ginny continued to glare at the men pacing circles around the room, speaking to each other in low voices and occasionally shouting insults at she and her mother. They did not respond to any of them, owing to the fact that they're mouths had been magically sealed by hexes after they, quote unquote, "Refused to shut up," but their message was quite clear through the looks that they shot at the Death Eaters around them.

Everything had happened in a fast blur. The men had Apperated into the room, an in the moment it took Ginny and Molly to take their wands out, the Death Eaters had used "Expelliamus," and the same binding charm that Molly had used on Bellatrix, and in a matter of minutes the two women were disarmed and tied up against the wall. It wasn't long after that that the Death Eaters had decided to silence them.

Ginny couldn't make out much of what they were saying to each other, but she picked up on bits here and there. "...should have killed the mother when she got what she needed... should be here by now...wrong girl?...can't be... same bitch that gave us trouble last year...department of mysteries...won't be pleased...wake Bellatrix up...wouldn't help, she just wants to tease 'em...we'll get the job done ourselves...kill the girl now...no use to us dead..."

Ginny had no way of telling what time it was, but she knew that the men must have been there for at least two hours. One would assume that Ginny would be scared, or at least nervous about the Death Eaters' plans, but by this point Ginny had been a 'hostage' ever since yesterday morning, and she'd yet to endure much more than insults from her capturers. Sure, she could have taken this as a sign that the worst was yet to come, but honestly, she was starting to find the whole thing overrated. More than anything, she was bored. She even once caught herself wondering when Voldemort was going to show up. She pushed the thought aside, reminding herself that that would be a _bad _thing.

The only thing that was beginning to worry her was the fact that Harry still hadn't shown up. Could he have been captured on his way over? He couldn't have, obviously they wanted him _here_ or they wouldn't have bothered bringing Ginny to lure him. She looked down at her stomach. This was, she supposed, a high stress situation. Was it hurting the baby?

"Well, why don't you ask her?" A agitated loud voice said. The speaker nodded his head toward Ginny, who snapped her eyes up at them. She'd been distracted by her thoughts and totally lost track of their conversation. One of the four men walked toward her slowly. Now that he was close to her an she could get a clear view of him, he seemed oddly familiar to her. She'd seen his face before, but where? Had he been at the Department of Mysteries? It suddenly clicked in her head. Yaxly.

He pointed his wand at her and said, "Loquius." an orange stream shot from it and Ginny felt her mouth unseal. "Where is he?" He asked in a sly but harsh voice?"

"I should ask you the same thing," Ginny retorted.

Yaxly ignored her. "Perhaps we were wrong about his feelings for you. Maybe he's not coming."

"He's coming," Ginny insisted. "Where is your lord? I would have thought he'd be here. Isn't he the one who wants Harry?"

Yaxly scoffed. "The Dark Lord does not attend to minuscule matters like these. We've come to retrieve him, and then..." He trailed off and smirked. "Well, we all know what will happen then."

"Harry will defeat him again?" She said it like a question, but it was more like a statement.

"You are not worthy of speaking of The Dark Lord in such a way, you stupid girl!" He grabbed her face in one tightly gripped hand. He pressed the tip of his wand against her forehead.

"What are you going to do?" Ginny asked maliciously. Her words were muffled by his grip on her jaw. "I'm no use to you dead."

Yaxly raised an eyebrow at her and stood up, his wand still pointed toward her. "Silencio," he said, and Ginny's moth was sealed once more. He backed away and glared at her. "Keep up all this trouble and The Dark Lord might just show up. But let's hope your Harry gets here first." There was a muffled sound of movement coming from downstairs. Yaxly smirked. "Speak of the devil."

**Spell definitions again. 'Silencio' is obvious. 'Loquius' undos Silencio. I took Loquius from the Latin word 'Loqui,' which means speak. Thanks for reading!**


	25. The Shrieking Shack

The Shrieking Shack

Harry slipped the invisibility cloak off and passed it to Hermione, put who packed it into her bag. The group headed quietly up the stairs and down the hall toward the room where they could here hear muffled voices. They stopped for a moment at the door and exchanged a look to confirm that they were all ready. Harry pulled his wand from his pocket and looked at Ron and Hermione who already had theirs ready. He lifted his free hand to the doorknob and turned it, pushing the door open.

"Hello Harry Potter." A familiar sly voice said. Four hooded men stood in front of him. The one who spoke wore a pompous smile on his oh too familiar face.

"Yaxley," Harry muttered to himself. He looked past the men to see Ginny and Mrs Weasley tied up and leaning against the room's back wall. "Ginny!" He called.

"Mum!" Ron called at the same time. The three teens stepped in the room. The Death Eaters watched with bemused expressions as Harry and Ron ran to Ginny and Molly, Hermione close behind

"Ginny!" Harry, said, crouching in front of her. He pulled her tightly into his arms. When he released her his hands remained resting on her shoulders. "Are you okay, is the baby okay?" Ginny nodded frantically. "What's wrong?" Harry asked. "Why aren't you talking?"

"It's a silencing charm," Hermione said, looking from Ginny to Mrs Weasley, who seemed to be in the same condition. She pointed her wand at Ginny and then at Mrs Weasley. "Loquius," she said, and Molly thanked her. Hermione looked reproachfully at the ropes restraining the mother and daughter, and banished them.

"Harry," Ginny said, pulling him toward her. She needed to kiss him; to feel his lips against hers; to feel safe again. She pressed a kiss on his lips. Harry pulled her tightly against him.

"Oh, how cute," One of the nameless Death Eaters called from across the room. "Go ahead, get as much of each other as you can. After today, you'll never be seeing each other again." He laughed.

Harry looked at Ginny as if to silently insure ensure that she was okay. She understood, and nodded. Harry jumped up and spun around on his heals heels to face the Death Eaters. "Well, you've got me here. What now?"

Something in the armchair stirred. Its back was to Harry, so he couldn't see it. "Well, look who finally woke up," Another nameless Death Eater said. He pointed his wand at her and banished the ropes.

"What-" The person asked confusedly. She stood up and looked around. Harry cursed under his breath when a glance at the woman's face gave away her identity. Her eyes landed on Harry. "Oh, Harry's finally arrived. I have to admit, I had my doubts." She smirked. A look of realization and memory flashed across her face. She stormed toward Molly. "You little bitch!" She said as she reached for her wand, which she did not find. "Where's my wand?" She shrieked.

A rather warped looking wand flew across the room from the hand of the third Death Eater and hit Bellatrix in the back. "Took it off the girl," he said. Bellatrix bent down to snatch it.

"Oh, I see," she sneered. "Now that your little boyfriend's here you think you're so _brave_." She laughed hysterically. "Well, let's see how brave you really are," She hissed. "Crucio!"

Ginny was suddenly overwhelmed with the most painful sensation that she had ever felt in her entire life. She cried and shrieked as the pain intensified. Bellatrix watched and laughed. Though it only took a split second for Harry to use 'Expelliarmus' and knock the wand out of the witch's hand, Ginny felt as though the pain was lasting an eternity. The pain was so intense that she felt sure that she was going to die. She watched as her life flashed before her eyes.

She was crying uncontrollably, thinking she'd lost her baby; she was cringing at the strong taste of strawberries; she was making love to Harry on New Years; kissing Harry for the first time on her birthday; fighting at the Department of mysteries; having her first kiss with Dean Thomas and wishing he was the boy she really wanted; listening in on Order meetings; visiting Egypt; being saved in the Chamber of Secrets; waking up from black outs; finding a strange diary in her bag; being sorted into Gryffindor; starting Hogwarts; meeting Harry Potter and feeling something she'd never felt before; watching her brothers go to Hogwarts and wishing she could go too; stealing her brothers' brooms and flying; being pranked by Fred and George; falling and scraping her knee and watching her mother heal it; she was three and crying because Ron had stolen her toy... All in one split second.

And then it was gone. Harry was at her side, pulling her up to stand. "Ginny, are you all right? It's gonna be okay. Can you here hear me?"

"I'm okay," Ginny replied, breathing heavily. "I'm okay now."

Her mother was now at her side as well. "Ginny!" she wailed. "Oh, my baby, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Ginny said again. Ron and Hermione were with her now, too.

"Well that's one of you," Yaxley said. "But Harry won't be fine for very long."

Harry, remembering the plan, turned toward him. "If you're going to kill me, then kill me. What are you waiting for?"

"Stupid boy, I am not here to kill you, The Dark Lord wishes to have the pleasure of ending your life personally. No boy, we are here to ensure that you suffer as he did."

"Well you're wasting time, then." Harry said. He ran to stand in front of the Death Eater and pointed his wand.

"Crucio!" Yaxley shouted.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted back. The beams which shot from their wands hit each other and made loud cracking sounds as each spell tried to beat out the other.

The whole room was captured by the sight of it. It was exactly the kind of distraction Hermione was waiting for. "Ginny," she said. Ginny tore her eyes away to look at her. "Can you leave now?"

"No, the walls are jinxed and if I go through the door I'll lose the baby."

"I figured they would do something like that," Hermione said, rifling through her bag. "That's why I brought this." She pulled out a black kettle. "It's a portkey," Hermione said unnecessarily. "Dumbledore gave it to me. Come on, grab a hold of it. Mrs Weasley, come here. You too."

"Are you all coming with us?" Ginny asked, pressing her hand against the kettle. Sparks flew in the background as Harry's and the Yaxley's spells broke apart. They soon began shooting various curses at each other. Molly was now with them, grabbing onto the kettle.

"No," Hermione said.

"What? No, I'm not leaving without you guys." She pulled her hand off of the portkey and looked over at Harry who was still duelling, and her brother, who had just joined in the fray.

"Ginny, we can handle it. We have a plan. Getting you out of here is part if of it, now come on, grab on." Hermione said impatiently. She glanced at her watch. "Five thirty. It's about to activate,"

"No- I,"

"Thirty seconds," Hermione stated.

"Come on, dear," Molly said.

"No, I have to stay."

"Ginny!" Hermione nearly shouted. "This isn't about us. We'll figure it out. This is about you! _This is why we're here_! You need to get out of here now or we'd all be risking our lives for nothing. Now grab onto the portkey!"

"Hey, what in the name of Merlin is going on over there?" One of the Death Eaters shouted.

"Someone will be waiting for you when you get there, now, GO!" Hermione shouted.

Ginny reluctantly grabbed on to the portkey. "Good luck," she said. "Be safe!"

Hermione nodded, looking quickly at Bellatrix and one of the Death Eaters, both of whom were now advancing toward them. "In three...two...one."

And the kettle, along with Molly and Ginny Weasley, disappeared.

xxx

Ginny and her mother were spinning through a vortex of light and colour, with their their hands glued to the portkey. They could see the ground rushing toward them. They landed on the ground just outside the Shrieking Shack with a light thud, and could instantly here hear the footsteps of the people running toward them.

"Ginny! Molly!" A familiar voice called. It took Ginny a moment to decipher who the speaker was. "Dad?" she called.

They were suddenly being stared down at by her father and Mad Eye. Before she knew it, Ginny was being lifted to her feet and hugged by her father. In the frantic flurry of Mad Eye Moody's questions about whether or not she was okay, and what kind of things they're dealing with in there, Ginny nodded and glanced quickly at her mother, who was wrapped tightly in the arms of her teary eyed father, who was saying, "I thought I lost you," over and over again.

"Did they hurt you?" Her father asked. "Is the baby okay?"

"No, I'm not hurt, well, they used the Cruciatus curse on me, but I'm fine now..." Her father gasped and moved in closer to her. "And I think the baby's okay. I should probably see a healer though. Anyways, you need to help Harry, Ron and Hermione. They are still in there! They're fighting off the Death Eater's by themselves!"

"Do they need us in there?" Arthur asked.

"Isn't that what the girl just said?" Mad Eye said gruffly. "Come on, let's go."

"Easy Mad Eye," said Molly. "Maybe we should-"

There was a loud cracking sound coming from the house, followed by a moment of silence, then an even louder boom. Smoke poured out of the cracks in the boarded up windows. The Weasleys plus Mad Eye, all looked up with horrified expressions.

"That's bad news," Mad Eye said. He looked at Arthur, then to Molly. "Molly, take Ginny, go somewhere safe. We'll go lend a hand in there."

Molly nodded, leading her daughter away from the house.

"Let's get in there," Mad Eye said, and he and Arthur starting at a run into the building.


	26. The Death of Three

**Forgive me if this chapter is kind of lame, I have next to no experience in writing battle scenes. Bear with me here...**

**Also, this is a revised version of the chapter, incase anyone who's already read it is confused about what happened. **

The Death of Three

Ginny and her mother bustled through a busy shop in Hogsmede to where there was a public fireplace for Floo Network usage. A sign hung above the grate. It read, _'Floo Network closed until further notice.'_

_ "_What are we going to do?" Ginny asked.

Her mother, rather flustered and cursing mildly under her breath, looked into the pocket of her apron. "We'll have to take the Knight Bus," she said with a sigh. She pulled her change purse out and lead her daughter into the busy street, and then down to a less populated one. She summoned the bus and it arrived quickly afterwards, screeching to a stop.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, rescuing stranded wizards-" Stan The conductor in place of Stan began.

"Yes, yes, we know," Molly said, leading Ginny inside. She passed the conductor the money for the fee and she and her daughter took their seats. As they were much too tired to speak, they didn't do so for the whole ride home.

When they arrived at the Burrow, the mother and daughter went into the house and Ginny took a seat at the kitchen table while Molly made tea. She The Weasley Matriarch levitated the teapot, milk pitcher, and sugar bowl over to the table while as she carried two teacups in her other hand. She poured her daughter a cup of tea and made it just the way she knew that Ginny liked it; lots of cream and a pinch of sugar.

Ginny watched her mother place the tea cup in front of her and then take a seat and proceed to fix one for herself. "Thank you," Ginny said before taking a sip from her own cup.

"Any time," Molly replied. She observed her daughter carefully, watching her drink her tea and wrap her arms around her large bulging belly. Ginny wasn't even a mother yet, but she was already so maternal. Molly could see it in her face whenever she talked about the baby, the way she radiated with love for it, and really truly glowed. She was so young, much too young to be a mother already, and it worried Molly whenever she thought about it. But for some reason, the way Ginny acted, the way she was about her unborn child - son as Ginny would insist - and the way Harry was with her... it almost seemed very right for them to be having a baby now, like they were supposed to.

And now Harry's life was in danger, not to mention her own son, and her probable future daughter-in-law. This was one huge worrying mess.

Ginny was staring off into space, barely touching her tea. "Ginny," Molly said, placing her hand over her daughter's. "They'll be alright dear."

Ginny nodded but did not respond, she just stared out the window into the darkening sky, rubbing her belly gently. The baby was kicking particularly strongly.

Suddenly a brown barn owl swooped in through the kitchen window, causing Ginny to jump back in shock. Her mother reached for the owl and pulled a rolled up letter from its leg. It hooted and flew away as she opened up the parchment and read it, eye wide. "Ginny," she said in a shocked and worried tone. "Read this."

"Where's the girl?" Bellatrix shrieked.

"Gone," Hermione shouted back. "They're no use to you now anyways, you've got Harry!"

"Imperio!" The Death Eater who flanking was flanking Bellatrix shouted. Hermione, just in time, spun around on her heals heels and cast, "Impedimenta." His movements Slowing the Death Eater's movements slowed andas she was able to slipslipped away to join Harry and Ron in battling the others.

Spells were shooting around the room, lighting up the dark and dirty space with red, blue and green bursts of light, leaving something of a multicoloured glow around them.

Harry, was running from one place to another, casting cruses curses repetitively and dodging the ones sent at him. Ron followed close behind, fighting off the Death Eaters who came near them.

"Stupefy!" Hermione cast when Yaxley came directly into her range.

He quickly dodged it, and then turned to her angrily. "Scalpera!" he shouted

Ron pushed her out of the way, jumping into the line of the spell. He didn't have enough time to cast any kind of deflection before the curse hit him. He suddenly felt a strong stinging sensation on his face, as if he'd been slashed, and blood began to pour from it, covering his face in dark crimson and dripping down onto his body.

Hermione gasped and leaned toward him. "Sana Secatria," she said. Ron's face healed instantly. He lifted his arm to his face and wiped the blood away with the sleeve of his shirt. "Thanks," he said.

"You're wel-"

"Crucio!" One of the Death eaters cast.

"Expeliarmus!" Hermione cast back, and the wand flew out of his hand. She and Ron ran away before he could pick it up again.

Harry was now fighting back Yaxley and Bellatrix. "Reducto," he yelled. The witch shot was thrown backward as blood gushed out from the open wound on her left leg.

"Imperio!" Yaxley shot back.

Harry dodged it. He was just pointing his wand again at Bellatrix Yaxley when the cracking sound came. Harry looked up to see Lord Voldemort standing in the centre of the room, staring at him in a maliciously bemused manner. The attention of the room turned to the Dark Lord.

"My Lord," the death Death Eaters all said, bowing at him.

Voldemort, ignoring them, continued to stare at Harry. "Harry Potter," he said in a sly high cold voice. His eyes scanned the room and landed on Ron and Hermione who were staring at him with looks of stun and fear. "And friends," he said. "Curious," he said in a near whisper. "That they all seem to refer to you as 'brave', yet you would bring friends to fight for you. To witness your death."

No one responded.

He turned to look at his five Death Eaters. "Bellatrix, Yaxley, you are needed elsewhere. As we spoke of before."

"Yes, my lord," They said together, and after giving quick and sadistic to look at Harry, they left.

"Aldis," he said, looking at the nearest Death Eater to him. "Remove all the enchantments in this room."

Aldis The Death Eater nodded, said "Of, course my Lord," and waved his wand in the air, muttering an incantation that Harry couldn't make out or recognize.

The result of the spell was an obscenely loud booming sound, followed by all the walls, ceiling, and floor to go up in green flames. The fire was not hot, it did not burn, but it did cause a lot of smoke. Hermione saw the temporary blindness of the room as the perfect opportunity to take the next step in their plan. She elbowed the coughing Ron and handed him a small parcel.

When the smoke cleared up, everyone in the room except Harry and Voldemort had changed positions, mostly out of confusion from when they couldn't see.

"Good," Voldemort said. He then turned to the next Death Eater and said in an almost mockingly calm voice, "Kill the spares."

The Death eater smirked and walked toward Ron and Hermione, who looked at each other with defiant bravery and grabbed each other's hands. "Avada Kedavra!" He shouted. The couple was so close to each other that he managed to kill them both in one shot.

"No!" Harry cried. This eyes gluing themselves to the horrific sight before him. Both his best friends … dead.

Voldemort laughed. "You have no one to blame but yourself. You brought them here. You brought them to me to die."

Harry's hands were shaking. "You've got me now!" Harry shouted. "Kill me now, you've got the chance!"

"No he hasn't!" Mad Eye shouted, bursting into the room. Arthur Weasley was right behind him, both wizards with their wand at the ready. Harry cursed under his breath.

Arthur looked around the room until his eyes fell on Ron and Hermione lying still and lifelessly on the floor. "No!" He wailed, running toward them. He collapsed to his knees, grabbing onto Ron. "No, no, no! My son! Not Ron! Not my son! NO!" He was in hysterics.

Voldemort smirked and turned to Mad Eye. "You," he said, "Are an inconvenience. Leave now or you'll see the same fate."

"I'd rather die!" Mad Eye said back.

"Have it your way," Voldemort said coldly. "Avada Ke-"

"Bombarda!" Harry screamed, pointing his wand at Mad Eye. The man was blown backward, his body thrown through the door. He landed in the hall, still alive, but unconscious. That was fine, Harry just needed to get him away from the curse.

"There was no point in saving him, . I'll only kill him once I'm finished with you. Or perhaps I'll just keep him as my follower." It was this comment that made Harry come to a sick realization. The Death Eaters in the room were shockingly familiar. It didn't take him long to realize where he knew them from. His jaw dropped as his mind connected the faces before him to the pictures from the 'Missing' notices in The Prophet. _The Imperius curse, _Harry realized.

"But now we are merely wasting time," Voldemort said. "Potter, I'm curious, are you ready to die?"

Harry gulped.

"Speak boy! Silence will do nothing for you!"

"No," Harry said. "I cannot, and will not, die before seeing my child."

Voldemort laughed, and his Death Eaters joined him. "Unfortunately," he said, lifting his wand to the ready. "The choice is not up to you."

There was a moment of silence before Voldemort spoke again. "Avada Kedavra!"

Harry Potter's lifeless body crumpled to the floor.

**Spell Definitions: "Scalpera" is basically a less complex form of "Sectum Sempra" that anyone can use (whereas Snap's version is extremely difficult) and "Sana Secatria" is a type of healing that's specifically for cuts and bruises. Again, made them from Latin words. **


	27. Not Your Decision to Make

Not Your Decision to Make

There was a silence in the room as they everyone looked down at the body of The Boy Who Lived, now dead on the floor. "I have defeated him," Voldemort said in a quiet voice. He then repeated himself, in a louder, much more powerful and boisterous voice. "I have defeated Harry Potter!"

There was an eruption of cheers from the Death Eaters. "Harry Potter is dead!" One of the Death Eaters, apparently a woman, said. She clapped her hands together and ran toward the body. "Look who's alive _now_!" she cackled.

"My Lord, what should we do now?" Aldis asked.

"There is a battle taking place right now at Hogwarts. We will bring the boy's body and drop him before those close to him; they're the ones fighting. Show them what I've done to their hero, show them them what power I posses!"

"Of course!" Aldis agreed. "I'll carry the boy." Aldis stomped toward Harry, his dark robes sweeping the floor as he did so. He pointed his wand down at the body on the floor and with a quick flick the body was dangling in the air in front of him.

"Long live The Dark Lord!" The unnamed male Death Eater shouted. There was another eruption of cheer. The thing that brought the celebration to an abrupt halt was the sound of Arthur Weasley (who everyone had forgotten was still present) gasping loudly from the other side of the room.

"Kill- what in the name of Marlin?" Aldis said in a positively stunned voice.

All three Death Eaters turned to stare at the father clutching his dead son. The sight was surprising. The body in his arms was seemingly flickering, fizzling away, until it was completely gone. The body of the girl beside him did the same.

"What's going on?" Arthur asked, stunned but dazed.

"Is he Apparating?" The male Death Eater asked.

"Don't be daft! He's dead, corpses can't Apparate!" The woman spat at him. "And Apparation doesn't look like that!"

"No!" Voldemort shouted in a booming voice. The Death Eaters turned to see the levitating corps of Harry Potter doing the exact same thing. "How could they possibly... I killed them!"

"I'm sorry Tom," Harry said from across the room. Ron and Hermione (who was clutching an invisibility cloak) stood beside him. "But that was not you decision to make."

Voldemort could not believe his eyes. The three had clearly died! It had been by his own hand!

"Dad, get Mad Eye and Apparate out of here," Ron called. The stunned Mr Weasley nodded.

"Not this time Tom," Harry said. "I guess I'm just not ready to die yet." And with a satisfied smirk, Harry Potter, along with his friends activated a Portkey and disappeared from the room leaving behind a small parcel. As this happened, a small parcel fell to the floor. Voldemort, still in shock, stomped toward it and snatched it up, reading the label to himself. _'Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes - Multiplying Mints'_

xxx

Harry, Ron, and Hermione landed on the ground in the field outside the Burrow. They all looked up at each other exchanging triumphant smiles. Just as they were standing up, they heard the sound of Mad Eye and Mr Weasley's arrival, though they could not see them as it was now very dark outside.

"Ron!" Mr Weasley called. "Harry? Hermione?"

"Dad!" Ron called back. His father soon found him and gave him a tight hug. "Don't ever do that to me again!" He told him. "I was so... I thought you were... What happened in there?"

"We'll explain it all when we get inside," Harry said, and he gestured to everyone to follow him as he headed toward the Burrow.

Ginny, who was sitting inside, from the corner of her eye, caught a glimpse of movement outside the window. She jumped from her seat and looked out into the night. It was pitch black out, but she could see the outlines of people walking. Her heart sped up and she felt warmth run over her. "They're home!" she nearly screamed.

Her mother jumped up as well, and the two of them ran to the door and out into the warm summer night air. Molly ran to her son and husband, taking them into her arms, then pulled Hermione into the hug as well. Ginny and Harry ran toward eachother, both of them with their arms outstretched. They looked like a scene from a cheesy old romance movie. When they finally embraced each other, Harry held her as closely against him as he could physically manage, while Ginny dug her head into his chest. She then leaned up and kissed him passionately. They'd never felt so much energy, so much longing, behind a kiss in their entire lives.

"I was so worried," Ginny cried into his chest.

"Shh," Harry said, smoothing down her hair. "It's okay, everything's fine."

"Wh-what happened?"

"Let's go inside," Harry said. "I'll explain everything."

So the group moved into the house, and Molly fetched everyone tea as they all sat down to hear Harry, Ron, and Hermione's explanation of their plan and the events of the evening.

"In the long run, Fred and George saved our lives," Harry said. "See, about a month or so back they sold me a few bags of their new product, 'Multiplying Mints'. That was the key to all of this."

"Multiplying what?" Arthur asked.

"Mints," Ron explained. "When you eat them they make you kind of span short lived clones of yourself. They say whatever you say and do whatever you would do."

"I bought them because I thought I'd used them to play a joke on Ron," Harry added in. "Hermione was the one who had the idea to use them for this."

Everyone looked to the frizzy haired girl seated next to Ron, who was clutching her hand tightly. "I saw them sticking out of Harry's bag," she explained. "My original idea was that we could all eat a whole bunch of them and multiply so many times that we could slip out in the confusion, but Ron suggested that we hide under the invisibility cloak while that was happening, and that gave me an even better idea. Then there was the problem of getting Ginny and Mrs Weasley out. We wouldn't have been able to fit everyone under the cloak, and we didn't want Ginny around when things got too dangerous."

"So we got there," Harry said. "And when we got inside I challenged one of the Death Eaters so that everyone would be distracted and Hermione could get Ginny and Mrs Weasley out using the portkey that Dumbledore gave us."

"So after they left," Ron continued. "We duelled with them and basically just tried to stay alive until we could find a good distraction for the next part of the plan."

"That was when Voldemort showed up," Harry said. Molly and Ginny gasped, Ron winced.

"Oh my god," Molly whispered.

"He had one of his Death Eaters take the charms out on the building," Hermione said. "The whole place went up in flames, and you couldn't see anything. It was perfect timing. While everyone was blinded I ate my mint and ran over to Ron and Harry to give them theirs. We multiplied right away, shooed, three of our clones out the door, and left one copy of each of us where we'd all been standing. Then we ran to to the corner and got under the invisibility cloak and basically watched the show."

Everyone in the room, save Ron, Harry, and Hermione, were on the edge of their seats, waiting to hear the rest of the story, though Molly looked rather worried over the matter.

"He made Bellatrix and Yaxley leave, and he ordered one of the other Death Eaters to kill us," Ron said. Another loud gasp came from Molly and Ginny.

"Who was the Death Eater?" Mad Eye asked.

"His name was Aldis," Harry said. "But he was under the Imperius curse, I think. I recognize him from the paper when he went missing."

"So what happened then?" Ginny asked. "Did he... er... try to kill you guys?"

"He _did_ kill us," Hermione corrected her. "But the thing was that is wasn't actually us. He killed our clones, we were fine."

"Then he tried to kill me," Harry said. "He killed the clone, then they celebrated and they said something about a battle that was happening at Hogwarts and how they wanted to bring my body to it to show everyone."

Everyone in the room except Harry flinched. Ginny squeezed his hand tightly.

"But then the bodies disappeared," Mr Weasley said. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Yeah," Ron said. "The charm's only temporary. "Our clones disappeared and everyone had a riot over it, but we were still there, just invisible.

"Mad Eye would have spotted us, had he been conscious," Harry added.

"So Harry gave a brave statement," Mrs Weasley said.

"And we left," Hermione finished.

Ron smiled. "And that's what happened."

The story telling was followed by lots of hugs and chatter and all seemed good for a while. And then an owl came in through the window. Ginny took the parchment from the bird, which flew away, thinking briefly of the letter that her mother had received earlier from Tonks, telling her that many of the members of the Order were leaving to fight in some sort of battle that was going to happen at the school.

She unrolled the parchment and read it, not believing the words that were written.

"What's wrong Ginny?" Harry asked, noticing the shocked and fearful look on her face. She did no respond. "Ginny, what is it?" He asked again.

Now the attention of the room had turned to her. Everyone was waiting to hear the news. Ginny read the letter over one more time just to make sure that she wasn't mistaken. No, there was no way all this had just happened; not while there had already been so much action in the Shrieking shack in the same night. She knew that there was a battle happening, but honestly, Voldemort wasn't even there! How could so much have happened just miles away?

Everyone was still staring at her expectantly. She looked up at them, her hand still holding tightly onto the paper. "Bill's in the hospital," she said. "And Dumbledore's dead."


	28. Revisiting the Hospital Wing

**I am **_**so **_**sorry for the ridiculously long wait. The first week of school has been crazy, and I didn't have much time to write. Hopefully I'll have more free time this week. Anyways, here it is, hope you like it.**

Revisiting the Hospital Wing

Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Molly, Arthur, and Mad Eye bustled toward the fireplace to use the Floo Network - which they were pleasantly surprised to find, was up and running once more. They stepped through the grate one at a time, emerging in the quiet, softly lit room of the Hogwarts Hospital Wing. They all glanced around until their eyes landed on a young man lying in a bed in the back corner of the room. Three people were sitting around him.

"Hello dears," Madame Pomfrey called to them in a quiet voice.

"We're here to see Bill," Molly explained.

"Of course," Madame Pomfrey said. "But I'm supposed to asked ask you a security question before allowing you any further entrance into the school... I mean, considering..." she glanced quickly at Molly.

"So," Madame Pomfrey went on. She rummaged through her pockets and pulled out a piece of parchment and read over it. "You're with the Order, correct?" The group nodded in unison. Molly glanced anxiously past her at Bill. "Okay, so your question is..." her eyes ran down the page. She looked rather confused, as if she didn't know what the question was supposed to mean. "On which street does Kreacher the house elf reside?" she asked.

"Grimmauld Place," Mad Eye said in a gruff voice.

"Can we go see him now?" Molly asked.

Madame Pomfrey looked back at her sheet, clearly looking for the correct answer. She nodded and looked up at them. "Alright," she said. "Go on in."

The group made their way over to the back of the room, where Bill lay in a hospital bed. Fleur sat next to him in a chair at the head of the bed, running her fingers gently through the hair on the part of her fiancé's head that wasn't under bandages. Remus and Tonks sat at the foot of the bed opposite Fleur, holding hands and speaking to each other quietly.

Molly gasped when she saw her son's face, nearly completely covered in bandages. She hurried to stand beside him. "Oh, honey," she said. She turned to Fleur. "What happened?"

"He was attacked by a werewolf," Remus said quietly.

Molly turned to face him. "_What_?"

Remus went on to tell Mrs Weasley about what had happened, while the rest of the group exchanged quiet greetings with Fleur and Tonks.

"What happened?" Ginny asked.

"Dumbledore warned us that in his absence, Death Eaters might try to invade Hogwarts, so we got called down to guard the grounds. When they got there... well, all hell broke loose." Tonks said.

"Eet 'appened quite fast," Fleur added.

"Yeah," Tonks agreed. "We were fighting the Death Eaters off, then Bill got attacked, then there was a lot of noise and action, then we all found out that Dumbledore was..."

"Dead," Harry said quietly. He swallowed hard. "We can say it, Dumbledore would have thought us cowards for avoiding it."

Ginny squeezed her boyfriend's hand, knowing how hard this was for him. "Harry," she said. "Let's go home."

"But we just-"

"Just got here, I know. Mum can handle it from here. You, Hermione, Ron, and I should go; we've had a long day too."

Harry looked from Bill and his fiancé, to Remus and Tonks, to everyone else. He then looked at the clock, which told him that it was nearly three in the morning. Harry was exhausted. Glancing back at Ginny, who looked equally tired and yearning for a comfortable bed, he nodded.

"Ron? Hermione?" He said. His friends turned to look at him. "Ginny and I are gonna go home," he said. "You should probably come too. We've been through a lot today."

Ron nodded in agreement. "We'll be right behind you." He said. "We'll just be a bit."

"Okay," Ginny said. "We'll see you at home." She gave hugs to everyone and bid them goodnight, then took her boyfriend's hand and together they went home.

xxx

The bright summer sunshine poured in through Ginny's bedroom window, and she and Harry could feel the heat of its rays beaming on them. Ginny awoke slowly, and looked up at Harry, who still had his arms wrapped around her, but was already very much awake, and staring at the ceiling. "Morning," Ginny mumbled into his chest, her eyes drifting back to a close.

"Morning," he said. His voice was distant.

Ginny's eyes fluttered open again and she stared at his face, which seemed somehow very far away. "Harry?" she said. "Are you alright?"

Harry looked down at her and then back at the ceiling. "Everything's fine, love."

Ginny sat up and turned to face him, locking her eyes with his and taking his hands in her own, as she always did when she wanted him to talk to her seriously. "Harry," she said. "What is it?"

"It's nothing, really," he said. "Don't worry about it."

Ginny frowned and gave him a serious look. "Harry, I know you better than _you_ know you. I can tell when something's seriously bothering you. Talk to me."

Harry observed her for a moment, as if, Ginny figured, deciding whether or not he should tell her. But in all honesty, Harry really couldn't hide anything from Ginny, and he knew that. He sighed. "I've just been thinking," he said. He pulled hand out of Ginny's and placed it on her stomach. "About the baby."

"Okay," Ginny said. "What about him?"

"Last year," he said. "Do you remember when I told you about the conversation I had with Dumbledore? About the Horcruxes?

Ginny thought about it, then nodded with a cringe. "You... have to destroy them," she said.

"Right," Harry said. "We've been so distracted by everything that's been going on lately, I just haven't been thinking about it. But it's not just going to go away. I have to destroy them. Voldemort has to be destroyed." He was starting to get worked up.

"I know," Ginny said calmly.

"They'll come back for you," He said. "And even if he doesn't send them to you directly, it's still a war. It's going to be get extremely dangerous. How am I going to protect you and the baby while I'm out finding Horcruxes?"

Ginny fought to keep herself composed. "I..." she brushed some hair out of her face. She hadn't put much thought into it before, and now that she was it was worrying her. "I don't know," she admitted. "But we'll figure it out, we always do."

"But what if we don't? I couldn't imaging imagine losing both of you! What if...?"

Ginny could see his stress levels rising. She found it almost entertaining that he was expressing nearly the same things that she had worried about earlier in the year. "Shh," she said. "Calm down. It's okay, we'll figure it out. We'll be fine."

"But-"

"We'll be fine," Ginny said. "Trust me." She looked deeply into his bottle green eyes, offering reassurance. "Fretting on it now won't do anything for us."

Harry blinked, then nodded. "Okay," he said reluctantly.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Ginny said. "Now let's go have breakfast."

Harry hesitated before finally getting up. "I'm sorry for freaking out there," he said.

"It's okay," Ginny said. "I've been there, and you did the same for me."

They headed down to the kitchen, where most of her family was seated and the smell of bacon wafted toward them. Ginny inhaled the scent gratefully. Her stomach groaned in an almost painful way. "I haven't eaten in two days," she realized with great surprise. "That can't be good for the baby."

"I'm sure he's fine," Harry said, pulling a chair for her. "Just eat a lot today." After Ginny took her seat, Harry sat down next to her, and pulled a plate of toast toward him.

"Morning," Ginny said, piling bacon onto her plate.

"Good morning," Her mother called back from where she stood in front of the counter, swishing her wand and levitating potatoes into the sink to be rinsed.

Fed and George, who Ginny couldn't remember the presence of last night, looked up from their plates and smiled, mouths full. "Morning sis," Fred said.

"How's the kid doing?" George asked.

"Good," Ginny said, before shovelling food into her mouth. She swallowed quickly. "When did you two get here?"

"We got an owl from Mum last night," George explained.

"We were up late restocking shelves at the shop, when we got the letter saying that Bill was in the hospital wing, so we went over," Fred continued.

"I think you guys had just left. Anyways, we stayed the night here," George finished.

Ginny smiled and nodded and ate another piece of bacon, finding it both pleasing and surprising that her conversation with Fred and George was, for once, not revolving around her new size. Her joy didn't last long.

"Wow Gin," Fred said, "I'd say you're starting to rival that fat cousin of Harry's. Wouldn't you say George?"

"Yeah Fred, she's becoming a right old fatty. Careful with that bacon there. You wouldn't want to put on_ more_ pounds!"

Ginny gave them both deadly glares. "Do _not _try to deny a pregnant woman of her bacon."

Harry sniggered.

"She's still keeping up this 'pregnant' story? Wow Fred, maybe she really _does_ have a kid in there."

"Nah, straight up fat. Or maybe she has a Quaffle under her shirt as an excuse to be moody with us."

Not able to hold it in any longer, Harry let out a guffaw at this comment.

"It's not that funny!" Ginny said. "The joke's getting old! Get a new joke!"

"But this one's just so much fun," Fred said.

"We just can't bear to part with it," George added.

"Well laugh it up," Mrs Weasley said from across the kitchen. "Because after breakfast Ginny gets to go relax, and you boys get to do the dishes and take over making lunch while I go over to St Mungo's to see your brother."

"But Mum-" the twins said together.

"That's one of the benefits to being 'fat'," she said. "Now you best get started."

**I made some references about things that were said, "last year". I know that I didn't actually write in anything about them before, but let's just assume that they had the conversation before the story started, or the time in between chapters. (I mean, I skipped forward like a month and a half once, it could have happened then.)**


	29. The Orchard

**May I just say that you guys are amazing? At the time of this chapter's publication, the story had a total of 480 reviews and hopefully still counting. I love you guys, your reviews are awesome, and as my devout readers you are officially my favourite people ever. Love and cyber-hugs to everyone! Hope you continue to like the story!**

The Orchard

Two weeks had passed quite quickly at the Burrow. Hermione had been in and out every few days, switching between the Weasley's home and that of her parents. Bill and Fleur had stayed for the week after Bill's return from the hospital; and Remus and Tonks had been visiting quite frequently as well, surprising everyone when they arrived one evening wearing matching wedding bands. They'd kept the whole thing quite quiet, but Molly had insisted on throwing a small party for them afterward, since no one had been invited to the ceremony.

Ginny, now seven and a half months pregnant, felt rather like one of those strange muggle contraptions that her father called, 'Balloons', (Their purpose she could not fathom) and as the baby was obviously quite big, she could no longer see her feet. On top of this, it was extremely hot outside and Ginny had her own little heater strapped to her body, so she felt constantly uncomfortable. She tried her best not to complain, but it was harder work than she would have assumed. Her mother tried to help, casting cooling charms on her every ten minutes, but it was what it was.

Now Harry, who was in a particularly good and greatly hopeful mood, and Ginny were just returning from Ginny's final scan at St Mungo's. The couple walked hand in hand through the busy hospital, toward the fireplace where they were able to Floo back to the Burrow. "He finally looks like a baby," Ginny commented as they stepped into the grate.

"Yeah," Harry said when they emerged from the grate in the Burrow. "He doesn't look like an alien anymore."

"A what?" Ginny asked.

"Nothing," Harry said. "Muggle joke. I just forgot."

"Oh," Ginny said as she crossed the kitchen to fetch she and Harry some tea. "Well, what is it?"

"A Muggle theory," Harry explained. "Some Muggles think that creatures from different planets have come to Earth before. They call them aliens."

"Huh," Ginny said, sitting down with the cups and pouring already steaming tea into them. "That sounds totally reasonable."

"Yeah," said Harry. "It makes sense. But most Muggles still don't believe it."

"Well Muggles don't believe in us either, but we still exist," Ginny said, and she took a sip of her tea.

Harry grabbed his cup and sipped as well. "True," he said.

"Rather close minded people, aren't they?" Ginny said. "It's like they refuse to believe in anything that they can't see or prove."

"That's exactly it," Harry said. "Most muggles Muggles have to see things to believe them. I was like that once too. When Hagrid told me I was a wizard, I thought he was totally nutters.

Ginny giggled. "Must have been weird," she said. "I mean, I grew up with all of this, it's just normal to me. But you..."

"It was definitely shocking," Harry agreed. "I'm happy our son won't have to go through it."

"Yeah," Ginny said, nodding in agreement. She smiled again and took another sip of her tea.

He watched Ginny as she placed one hand on her stomach as she drank from her cup. She stared out the window and chewed on her bottom lip absentmindedly. It wouldn't be long now until they were parents. The thought was both happy and horrifying to Harry. He'd always figured that he would have kids someday, but this soon? He would be a father by September. By this time next year they would have an almost one year old. The only thing that prevented him from having a complete meltdown from the stress of this was Ginny. She seemed so ready, so aware. He wondered briefly if all women were like this when they're pregnant. She looked back and smiled at him. He smiled back. Oh Merlin, he loved her.

"Let's go for a walk," He said. "It's beautiful outside."

Ginny drank the last of her tea and set it down on the table. "Sounds nice," she said, and she pushed her chair out from the table. She struggled to hoist herself up, and Harry offered to help, but she insisted that she could manage. She wasn't _that_ big yet.

Harry took her hand in his and guided her out the door. They walked hand-in-hand around the back of the house, through the field and toward the orchard, chatting cheerfully as they went.

"Tonks is pregnant," Ginny said.

Harry looked at her in surprise. "Really? How do you know? Did she tell you?"

Ginny shook her head. "I can just tell."

"How?"

Ginny gestured to her stomach. "I've got experience now. I can see it in the way she walks, and the way she stands, the way she seemed sort of repulsed by the food at dinner the other night, even though she was so hungry before. I totally remember all of that. I think it's pretty early though. _She _probably doesn't even know yet, and if she does she's not telling anyone.

"Huh," Harry said. "You've become like a pregnancy expert."

Ginny shrugged. "More like an observation expert. I get it from my mother."

They approached the orchard and were overcome by the scent of fresh apple blossoms. The trees were pink with flowers and petals fluttered around them. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Ginny said, looking about.

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "Almost as beautiful as you."

Ginny laughed and spun herself around to kiss him. Harry ran his fingers softly through her hair as she did so. "I love you," Ginny said.

"I love you too," He replied. He hugged her closely, but the bump caused a great distance between them, causing Ginny to frown. Harry got an idea. He bent down and scooped her up into his arms. She laughed again and he carried her over to the centre of the orchard and laid her down on the ground. He lay down next to her and looked into her eyes. She blushed and gave him a quick peck. "You are the most amazing woman I have ever met in my entire life," He said.

"Not as amazing as you," she replied.

"No," Harry said. "I'm no good without you. I need you to be amazing. You just are."

Ginny smiled and ran her hand over her large bulging belly. "Our son is kicking a lot today," she said. Harry placed a hand on her stomach as well.

"He's excited to be born," he commented.

Ginny laughed. "Not yet!" she said to her stomach. "You've gotta stay in there for a while longer, little guy."

Harry observed his surroundings pleasantly. "Do you remember the last time we were here?" he asked.

Ginny smiled. "Of course," she said. "Our first kiss."

"I loved you even then," Harry said. "I've always loved you."

"I know," Ginny said. "I've always loved you too." She paused and thought back on the day, giggling at the memory. "Do you remember when my shirt ripped? And then Ron caught us snogging and he thought we were shagging."

"Yeah," Harry said, also laughing at the memory. "Then we had to go back to the house and tell the rest of your family."

"And Fred and George claimed they saw it coming," Ginny reminisced. "Then my mum gave us the whole 'personal responsibility' speech."

"I remember," Harry laughed. "She said something like, _'I know young people get urges, but you need to be responsible and control them so you can avoid consequences.'_" His voice was a bad mimic, but humorous nonetheless.

Ginny giggled. "Oops."

"Yeah," Harry said. "But it was a happy oops."

"Very true," Ginny said. "I actually couldn't imagine us right now without-" she gestured to her belly.

"Yeah," Harry agreed joyfully. "Me neither." He idly played with the ends of her hair, thinking about how closely this resembled their first encounter in the orchard. "Do you remember why I _said _I kissed you?" he asked.

Ginny nodded. "You said it was my birthday present. I think it was the best gift I ever got."

Harry chuckled in the memory. "Good present, eh? Of course, I guess it was a rather self centred present, seeing as it was a present for me too."

Ginny giggled. "Well in that case, I demand a new birthday present." She joked.

"Fair enough," Harry said, reaching for his pocket. "I was going to save this for your birthday in a few weeks, but I supposed we could call this your late present from last year, and I could give it to you now."

Ginny giggled again. "No, we can just call it this year's early gift."

"Or both," Harry said. He dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a box. "Are you sure you want it early?" he asked.

"Definitely," Ginny said. She'd always _detested _waiting.

"Alright then," Harry said, placing the box in front of Ginny. Happy birthday," He smiled.

Ginny pulled the box toward her. It was quite pretty, with gold wrapping and a pink ribbon on top, which was enchanted to sparkle and flutter. "Why, thank you," she said, giving Harry a quick kiss before pulling the ribbon loose. She slowly tore off the paper, and opened the white box underneath. Inside the box was a second, smaller box. This one was made of black velvet. She pulled it out gently and looked at it, running her fingers along its soft texture, and then glanced at Harry, who was watching her expectantly.

Smiling, Ginny popped the box open. She gasped. Inside, resting in silk cushioning, sat a delicate diamond ring with a golden band. It shimmered gloriously in the midday sunshine. It was the most beautiful ring Ginny had ever seen in her entire life. Struggling to catch her breath, she looked up at Harry, who smiled at her.

"Marry me?"


	30. Mothers, Fathers, Brothers and Horcruxes

**This chapter is pure condensed one hundred percent fluff. You've been warned. :P**

Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, and Horcruxes

"Yes!" Ginny squealed. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!" She lunged forward and pulled Harry into a near rib cracking hug. She then pulled away just enough to give him a passionate kiss. Tears of joy were now streaming down her face. Harry grinned at her as he pulled the ring from its place in the box and slid it onto her finger. Ginny stared down at it. It was _gorgeous_. Thoughts of a wedding danced through her head, and she thought blissfully of introducing herself as Ginny Potter. "Harry," she said, smiling at him. "I love you so much!"

"I love you too, future Mrs Potter," he said, kissing her again. "So just to be sure because I may have been mistaken the first six times, that's a yes?" He joked.

"It's an absolute yes!" she squealed. "I've wanted to marry you since... forever!"

Harry laughed again. "Me too," Harry said, kissing her forehead. "You're the love of my life. You're the perfect girl for me."

Ginny giggled (she was in a very giddy mood). "Harry Potter, you're the love of my life as well, and I want to spend every day with you for the rest of my time on this earth."

"That would be a dream," Harry said. He kissed her again, pushing her hair out of her face so that he could deepen their kiss.

Ginny pulled away and jumped up, looking extremely excited. "Come on!" she said. "There's plenty of time for that tonight, we've gotta go!"

Harry stood up as well. He placed his hands on her belly and pressed his forehead against hers. "Where, my love, would you possibly want to go?"

"To spread the news!" she exclaimed. "I want to tell the world! ... Or at least my family..."

Laughing and loving his new fiancé's enthusiasm, Harry followed her in her near run back to the Burrow. For a pregnant woman, she ran pretty fast. When they approached the back door, Harry slipped his arm around Ginny's waist and pulled her closely against his side. They smiled at each other, enjoying what seemed somewhat like a private joke. "Ready to tell them?" Harry asked.

"Definitely," Ginny said, and she pushed the door open.

xxx

"You're getting married?" Molly Weasley asked excitedly.

"Yes!" Ginny said. "He asked me just a little while ago in the orchard."

"That's wonderful!" Molly exclaimed. "When?"

Ginny looked at Harry. They hadn't spoken about it. She knew she would have to wait at least another year before she would be seventeen and allowed to get married legally. "I don't know," Ginny said. She looked at Harry. "Next year, I suppose?"

"Sure," Harry said smiling at her. "But why wait?"

"Well I can't get married now... can I?"

"Actually," Harry said. "I've been looking into it and apparently you can get married as young as sixteen if you have expressed permission from of your parents. You'll be sixteen in a few weeks. We could be married in mid-August. That is, if you don't mind getting married with a big belly under your dress.

"August?" Ginny said. "That sounds wonderful! Mum, dad?" she turned to her parents, who exchanged glances then smiled.

"Of course," Her father said. "You have our blessing."

Ginny squealed and spun around to kiss Harry. "This is so exciting!" she said. "Oh let's start planning!" she ran to her mother and the two of them started to frantically gab about details, and white fabrics and other things that were going over Harry's head. Harry looked across at Mr Weasley, who looked equally as lost on the subject of wedding planning as he was.

"I think," Mr Weasley said. "That this is one of those jobs that only a woman can properly do. What do you say Harry? Should we leave them to it?"

Harry knew that this was an attempt to get him alone to talk, and he accepted. "Sounds like a good idea," he said with a nod. "Have fun, love," he called to Ginny, who was talking animatedly to her mother.

Mr Weasley nodded toward the door and Harry followed. The two of them walked out into the hall, leaving the ladies to their chatting. They went through the kitchen and back out into the garden. "I should warn you," Mr Weasley said as they began to walk aimlessly around the property. "If she's anything like her mother, she'll be a handful."

Harry chuckled. "I've noticed," he said. "You learn to love it."

Mr Weasley laughed and agreed. They walked in silence for a while. "I just wanted to talk to you, Harry," Mr Weasley said. "About the whole situation."

Harry braced himself for interrogation. "Alright," he said.

"You should know that I completely support the two of you getting married," he began. "I just want to be sure that you're marrying her for the right reason."

"How so?" Harry asked.

"Well, I know that the baby's on the way, and soon frankly, but I wouldn't like to see you two married because you feel like you have to be..."

"Mr Weasley," Harry said. "I'm marrying her because I love her."

Arthur smiled. "Good," he said. "I figured, I just wanted to be sure."

Harry nodded. "I thought about talking to you first," he said. "You know, asking for your blessing. But I figured Ginny would hate that. You know how she is," He laughed lightly. "She won't even let me open doors for her. She'd never let me live this one down."

Arthur laughed as well. "You're right," he said. "She's a very independent and opinionated girl. She gets it from her mother."

"I think that's my favourite part about her," Harry said. "She's strong. She's herself."

Arthur nodded. "Take good care of her," He said. "She acts strong but she's still very sensitive."

"I know," Harry said. "And I'll try."

They both smiled and they continued to walk, somewhat awkwardly, back to the burrow. "I'm glad we had this talk," Arthur said. "I know you'll be good to her."

Harry smiled, and was about to respond when he saw Ron and Hermione stepping outside. "Would you mind if I-"

"Go right ahead," Arthur said.

Harry started at a near run toward his friends. The huge smile on his face gave him away.

"Did you do it?" Ron asked excitedly.

"Do what?" Hermione asked.

"I did it!"

"What'd she say?" Ron asked.

"What did who say about what?" Hermione cut in.

"She said no."

Ron's excited smile dropped.

Harry laughed. "I'm just kidding, she said yes!"

Ron nearly squealed like a girl. "I can't believe it! I mean... I can... since she's pregnant... not that's the only reason, I mean... congrats!"

"Would someone _please_ explain this madness?" Hermione demanded.

Harry and Ron laughed. "Hermione, what is my sister's last name?" Ron asked.

Hermione gave them odd looks. "...Weasley."

"Not for long," Harry said. He and Ron smirked.

It took Hermione a moment to understand the joke. "You're getting married?" she asked.

"Maybe," Harry joked.

Hermione squealed and hugged him tightly. "Oh my!" She exclaimed. "This is so exciting! Where is she?" Hermione looked around frantically.

"Harry Potter, are you telling them without me?" Ginny called cheerfully from behind her.

"Sorry love," Harry said as she moved to stand by his side. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her toward him. "I couldn't help it." He planted a kiss on her lips.

Ginny giggled. "I forgive you."

"Well good," Harry said. "We wouldn't want to have our first marriage fight before we're even married."

Ginny folded her arms over her belly and turned to Hermione, who pulled her into a tight hug. "This is so exciting! When?"

"Next month," she said excitedly.

"You sure you don't want to wait until you're not-" Ron gestured to her stomach.

Ginny laughed. "What? You think I don't look incredibly hot in all my puffiness?" She said sarcastically. "I think it would be nice to be married before he's born."

"I think it's wonderful," Hermione said. "So how did he ask you?

Ginny and Hermione set into a very girly conversation (similar to the one that Ginny had had with her mother) and Harry and Ron wandered off. "You know this is crazy, right?" Ron said humorously as they re-entered the burrow. "I mean, by this Christmas you two will be married with a kid."

"I know," Harry said. "Crazy. But have you ever for a second thought that Ginny and I had even an ounce of sanity in us?"

Ron laughed. "Guess not. Hey, welcome to the family I guess."

"Thanks," Harry said. "So I guess we're pretty much brothers now. Or we will be soon."

"Guess so," Ron smirked. "Things turned out better than expected, eh?"

"I told you it'd all work out. The only thing I'm worried about is next year..."

"What, with the baby?"

"No," Harry said. "It's about..." Harry stopped in realization. "sBlimey, did I never tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"There's... something that I need to do... and I might need your help. Hermione too."

"Sure," Ron said. "What?"

"It probably won't take long. I can't be sure though... And it'll be dangerous."

"Just tell me what it is."

Harry paused. "Ever heard of a Horcrux?"

**Yes indeed, this was rather short, and it took me quite a while to put up. My sincerest apologies, I had annoying real life stuff to attend too :P**


	31. Now, and For All Time

**So I know that the timing is once again different in this chapter because Bill and Fleur's wedding isn't until the end of the summer, and that's when all the stuff goes down, but that didn't work with the way I needed to tell this story. So, in the words of J.K. Rowling, 'Never ask questions.' Hope you like this chapter. **

Now, and For All Time

The weeks seemed to fly by as Harry and Ginny were absorbed in plans for the wedding. Ginny, inspired by the beauty of Bill and Fleur's wedding, decided that she wanted to have hers at home as well. They settled on having the ceremony in the orchard because of its symbolic reasons.

It had taken Mrs Weasley quite a while to finish making Ginny's wedding dress because she kept outgrowing it (she finally resorted to an expanding charm), and Ginny was none more pleased. Even her mother had agreed that she was especially huge, but considering that she was almost eight and a half months pregnant, it wasn't too shocking.

Today was the day of the wedding, and Ginny awoke to see that Harry was still asleep next to her. She kissed him on the cheek and rolled out of bed. Slipping on her dressing gown, she tiptoed across the bedroom floor and down the stairs. Her mother, already awake, bid her good morning and fixed her a cup of tea as Ginny sat down at the table. She sat down to join her and the two women sipped their tea, silently enjoying the morning. Molly stared across the table at her daughter, with her bright red hair and huge belly, her left hand holding her the teacup, revealing her beautiful diamond engagement ring. Her small hand and slender fingers made the already extravagant stone look even larger. It made Molly somewhat sad to think of her little Ginny getting married and having to give her away.

"Kind of weird, isn't it?" Molly commented. "When you wake up tomorrow you'll be a married woman."

"I know," Ginny said with a light giggle. "It's crazy, but I'm happy about it. I mean, it seems like everything's happening so fast! I mean, I'm getting married today, and the baby will be here by September... It's..."

"Crazy," Molly said, smiling. "I know. But I'm sure you'll get used to it."

Their conversation was brief because they were soon interrupted by a squealing and giggling Hermione and Fleur (who had slept over the night before) bustling in, grabbing Ginny, and insisting that they take her away before Harry woke up. Ginny was whisked away up to Fred and George's old room, (where Hermione always now slept in when she stayed the night, as bunking with Ginny was no longer an option, and unlike Harry and Ginny, she and Ron weren't allowed to shared a room) and Ginny was pushed down into a cushioned chair.

Hermione wasn't extremely experienced with makeup application or hair styling, but, as her Ginny's maid of honour, she felt obligated to at least keep her company while Fleur did the work. She sat down in a chair next to Ginny's and watched as Fleur summoned her makeup bag from her room across the hall. The pink pouch came flying in and landed in Fleur's open hand. She unzipped the bag and a group of pink makeup utensils flew out and towards Fleur's face. She waved them away and pointed at Ginny. "No, 'er," she said, and the pink brushes and sponges and tubes flew toward Ginny. In the blink of an eye, Ginny could feel them working.

As the enchanted instruments painted Ginny's face with various shades of creams and pinks, Fleur moved to stand behind Ginny, summoning her hair equipment to the room as well. A curling iron, brush, and blow dryer flew in. They seemed to have the same enchantment on them that the makeup did, as they started independently working on Ginny's hair as well. With a smile, Fleur stood back and watched the tools do their work. "'Eet's very exciting, 'eesn't 'eet?" Fleur commented.

"Yeah," Ginny said, grinning. "Hey, Fleur, Mum's finished fixing your bridesmaid dress, right?"

"Yes, she finished 'eet yesterday, I theenk."

"Good," Ginny said. "And Hermione, you've got yours too, right?" She rubbed her hands over her huge bulging stomach. She was beginning to understand what women meant when they talked about pre-wedding jitters. In the weeks leading up to this day, none of this had seemed stressful, but with the wedding now just a few hours away, she was starting to worry about the small things.

"Yes," Hermione said. "There's nothing to worry about Gin, everything's going to be perfect, I promise."

For the first time since the war had started threatening their lives, Ginny believed that.

xxx

"Oi! Wake up mate, you've gotta marry my sister today!" Ron said, shaking Harry by the shoulder.

Harry rolled over to see the blurred form of his best friend leaning over him and grinning. He sat up and reached for his glasses on the bedside table. The room around him became much clearer as he put them on. Much better. "Morning," he said as he stood up, stretched, and made for the dresser that he shared with Ginny.

"Good morning," Ron replied. "Sleep well?"

"Didn't sleep much. Ginny kept me up-"

"Don't wanna hear it mate."

Harry chuckled. "Sorry."

"You're forgiven," Ron joked. "So, Mum's got breakfast ready downstairs, Dad and Bill are setting up out in the Orchard, Fred and George are probably still asleep in my room, and the girls have barricaded themselves in the twin's room. They are getting Ginny ready, I think."

Harry, suddenly worried that he'd early overslept through his own wedding, looked quickly at the clock, expecting to see some time in the Pm. It read nine thirty-two in the morning.

"The wedding's not for hours," Harry said, confused.

"Yeah, well, you know how girls are," Ron replied. "And they've been at it for an hour already. Anyways, we best be getting downstairs. Mum's insisting that we eat something, then we have to go help out outside, then you need to get ready, then-"

"Show time," Harry said with a smile. "Alright, let's go."

Ron and Harry helped themselves to plates of sausages and eggs, and then went out to the orchard, where they helped turn the cluster of trees into something of a ceremony hall. The decorating took the most time, as they had very few chairs to place. The guest list was short, just close friends and family. Ginny wanted it to be small, saying that it would be more intimate. Harry agreed, also adding in that a smaller ceremony would, hopefully, attract less attention from the press. The men were so absorbed in their work that it didn't seem long before they had to go in and get ready.

Inside the house, Molly Weasley was preparing food for the party afterwards, Fred and George were just waking up, and in the room that was once theirs, Hermione, Fleur, and a still-unfinished Ginny sat and giggled and talked about the men in their lives. It was quite funny for Ginny, as the husband and boyfriend that Fleur and Ginny gabbed about were both her brothers.

"I can't wait until Bill and I 'ave a baby," Fleur commented, looking longingly at Ginny's large rounded stomach.

"You're trying?" Ginny asked. She was in the middle of having her cheeks brushed with a third layer of blush.

Fleur shook her head. "No, we 'ave decided it's too dangerous right now, weeth ze war," she paused and blushed. "Not that I theenk your baby will be unsafe!"

Ginny shook her head. "It's okay, I know."

"'Eet's just... we want to wait until ze war 'as ended." Fleur finished.

"What if it lasts a long time?" Hermione asked. "Like a decade or so?"

"'Eet won't," Fleur insisted. "I know 'eet won't. I theenk maybe a year or so, no more. And when 'eet's all over, and we've won, then we will 'ave a baby. 'Opefully we will 'ave a girl. Zen we can name her Victoire. It means, how do you say ... Victory!"

"Sounds beautiful," Ginny said smiling. She made a mental note that she wanted her son's name to be something meaningful as well. "Now, enough war talk on my wedding day. Hermione, how are things with Ron?"

Hermione's face turned a deep scarlet. "Couldn't be better," she said.

"I'd ask for details, but I don't think I want to know," Ginny said, giggling.

Hermione went even redder. "Well, no, I guess not. Not that we've really..." she trailed off and quickly changed the subject. "What about you and Harry? How are things in the bedroom?"

Ginny laughed and gestured to her stomach. "Good, obviously."

Suddenly all the hair styling tools and makeup brushes in front of Ginny fell to the floor. Fleur smiled brightly. "You are feenished!" She exclaimed. Fleur and Hermione stared at Ginny in awe. Ginny, who had yet to see herself, stood up quickly and ran to the bathroom to examine herself in the mirror. She was shocked. The girl who stared back at her was like a familiar stranger. Her hair was bright and vibrant red, just as Ginny was accustomed to, but it was smoother. Half of it was pulled up tightly into an elegant bun, and the other half hung around her shoulders in tight ringlets. Her face was still hers, but all one smooth, perfect tone of light ivory cream, covering all her blemishes. Her lips were a pale rose and her usually stubby eyelashes were thick and full. She looked like her usual self, but beautiful.

One room over, Harry and Ron were putting on their dress robes; doing up buttons and tying ties. They shaved the little bit that they had to and combed their hair. Harry spent a good amount of time in front of the mirror, trying to get his to obey. About a half hour before the ceremony was due to begin, Hermione entered, clad in her form fitting elegant pink bridesmaid dress, with her hair up and makeup on. Ron gave a low whistle, and she blushed. "Here," she said, her high heels clicking as the made her way across the room to Harry, who was still fussing with his hair in front of the mirror. "Take this." She handed him a glass bottle with clear pinkish liquid inside.

"What's this?" Harry asked.

"Hair taming potion," Hermione said. "I figured you would need it, so I bought some while I was out yesterday."

"Thanks Hermione," Harry said.

"No problem," Hermione said. She gave him a quick hug and fixed his crooked tie. "Go get her," she said with an encouraging smile. "She looks beautiful, wait 'till you see her."

Harry thanked her again, and Hermione strode off toward Ron, who smirked at her. Hermione sighed and fussed over his hair. "You're going to need a little more work," she said light-heartedly. She adjusted his tie and tucked his shirt in.

Ron laughed, sighed exaggeratedly, and pulled her in to kiss her. Hermione tensed at first, taken by surprise, then calmed and leaned closer in. Harry looked away to give them their moment. "I love you," he heard Ron say.

There was a pause. As far as Harry knew, they hadn't said that yet. "I love you too," Hermione said. Harry smiled and turned around. "Alright lovebirds," he said. "We've got a wedding to get to."

"Right," Hermione said. "Well, I'm supposed to go rejoin Ginny and Fleur, so you boys best hurry," she said blushing. She scurried from the room but paused at the door and spun on her heels to face them. "I'll see you two at the altar," she said. And with that, she left.

"Well," Harry said as he poured the potion onto his hair and brushed it in. His usually stubborn black mess became smooth and manageable. "We should get going."

"Yeah," Ron agreed, looked dazedly at where Hermione had left. "Guess so."

The boys looked themselves over in the mirror before heading out into the hall and down the stairs. "You know," Ron said as they reached the main floor. "I'm going to marry her someday."

Harry laughed. "I hope you do," he said, and they stepped out into the garden.

xxx

Ginny took a deep breath and stepped out into the warm mid-August air, Hermione and Fleur trailed behind her.

"Ready?" Hermione asked as they walked toward the orchard.

"Ready," Ginny said with an exuberant smile. As the three woman women approached the orchard, music began to play, echoing around the trees. Pink apple blossom petals fell gently all around them, and a trail of petals lead toward the altar. Ginny looked up to see Harry smiling at her, Ron at his side, underneath a beautiful flower laced arch. She stepped toward them, taking in her surrounding, but keeping eye contact with Harry the whole time. Mr Weasley hurried toward them and linked arms with Ginny just as she approached the isle.

Fleur and Hermione made their way up to stand next to the boys at the altar. Ginny grinned at her father as he walked her forward. She looked around at the people in chairs. There was Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George, her mother, Remus, and Tonks. If you included Hermione, Ron, Fleur, and her father, there were a total of eleven guests. Ginny smiled. Perfect.

She and her father reached the alter altar and Mr Weasley gave he his daughter a kiss on the cheek. "I love you honey," he said. He took her hand in and placed it in Harry's, before making his way walking back to his seat as Ginny moved to stand in front of her fiancé. Harry stared at her in awe of her beauty. Ginny smiled back at him.

Suddenly a minister Apparated in with a small popping sound. He started speaking without skipping a beat. "Dear friends and family, we are gathered here today to witness and celebrate the union of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley in marriage. With love and commitment, they have decided to live their lives together as husband and wife. Today, as we create this marriage, we also create a new bond and new sense of family - one that will undoubtedly include all who are present here today."

Harry and Ginny looked into each other's eyes, nearly struggling to pay attention to the minister's words.

He went on. "True marriage is more than joining the bonds of marriage of two persons; it is the union of two hearts. It lives on the love you give each other and never grows old, but thrives on the joy of each new day. Marriage is love. May you always be able to talk things over, to confide in each other, to laugh with each other, to enjoy life together, and to share moments of quiet and peace, when the day is over. May you always need one another, not to fill an emptiness, but to help each other know your fullness. May you want one another, but not out of lack. May you embrace one another, but not encircle one another. May you succeed in all important ways with each other, and not fail in the little graces. May you have happiness, and may you find it in making one another happy. May you have love, and may you find it in loving one another."

He turned to Harry. "Do you Harry, take Ginny to be your lawfully wedded wife, promising to love and cherish, through joy and sorrow, sickness and health, and whatever challenges you may face, for as long as you both shall live?"

Harry smiled brightly and tightened his grip on her hands. "I do."

The minister smiled and turned to Ginny. "Do you Ginny, take Harry to be your lawfully wedded husband, promising to love and cherish, through joy and sorrow, sickness and health, and whatever challenges you may face, for as long as you both shall live?"

Ginny smiled back. "I do."

"The rings?" the minister asked. Ron pulled a box from his pocket and passed it to the minister, who pulled the two rings out and passed them to Harry and Ginny. Harry slipped a ring onto Ginny's finger. "I, Harry, give you this ring as an eternal symbol of my love and commitment to you."

Tears of joy started to run down Ginny's face, and she slipped a ring onto his finger. "Through this ring, I accept you as my husband, now and for all time."

The minister grinned at them and turned so that he could face both them and the audience, and announced, "By the power vested in me by the Ministry of Magic, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

Harry pulled Ginny in and the shared the most intimate and passionate kiss that they had ever experienced. Ginny felt herself melt into her new husband, and as they pulled apart, she longed to kiss him again. Her friends and family clapped and cheered. Joy overwhelmed Ginny in a way that she'd never felt before.

The minister spoke once more. "Family and friends, I present to you, for the first time; Mr and Mrs Harry and Ginny Potter."

Everyone cheered and clapped again, and the couple kissed once more. The baby kicked hard, and Ginny assumed he could feel her excitement. Harry took her hand and they walked back down the aisle to meet their friends and family.

"I love you Harry!" Ginny said as everyone closed in on them for hugs.

"I love you Mrs Potter."


	32. Paris

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the epic reviews, love you guys! Also, I know, this chapter's really short and super cut up. Sorry for that, it's just how it had to be written. Anyways, on with the chapter!**

Paris

"To the new couple!" Arthur Weasley toasted. Everyone cheered and Harry and Ginny kissed. The celebrations went on into the night. Many hugs were exchanged, congratulations were given, and everyone danced. Everyone but Ginny, Harry, Remus and Tonks sipped champagne (Harry felt bad drinking if Ginny couldn't, and, as they'd announced a few weeks earlier, Remus and Tonks were in the same position), and Harry stuck by Ginny's side all evening as if they were glued by the hip. Ginny stared adoringly at her new husband, loving the fact that he was hers forever. Her smile never left her face.

At around ten o'clock Ginny and Harry were nudged by Mrs Weasley who reminded them that they ought to be leaving for their honeymoon soon.

"Yeah," Harry said in a low voice. "I mean, I hate to leave this party, but there _is _a hotel waiting for us in Paris."

Ginny giggled. "Alright," she said. "We best get going then." They said goodbye to their family and friends headed to the fireplace and threw a handful of Floo Powder.

They stepped out into what looked like a train station, except instead of being lined with platforms, it was lined with fireplaces. A steady stream of witches and wizards were stepping out of them, levitating or dragging their luggage with them. Harry took Ginny's hand and they manoeuvred their way through the packed station and out into the lively street. They hailed a taxi which took them to their hotel.

A tall man opened the door for them and the newlyweds weds stepped inside and made their way toward the main desk, where they were handed their room key and instructed on how to get to their room. They were about to carry their bags up the muggle Muggle way, but a man in a uniform offered to do it for them. Once they were in their room, they kissed quickly before Ginny fled to the washroom to freshen up. In front of the mirror she removed the thick blanket of makeup from her face and pulled each and every one of the thirty six the bobby-pins from in her hair. Thirty six bobby-pins, to be exact.

She then went back into the room where her husband sat on the bed, staring out at the Paris view. Ginny tiptoed toward Harry and leaned down to kiss him. "Hello husband," she said.

Harry grinned and spun around to pull Ginny onto his lap. "I think," he said as he planted a kiss on her lips and leaned back so that they were lying down next to each other. "I'm going to like this marriage thing."

xxx

Ginny awoke the next morning to the feeling of the baby kicking her bladder. She sighed and got out of bed to head to the washroom. This baby had her in the bathroom almost as much now as he had when she was in her first trimester. When she was finished she crept over to the bed and slipped back under and into Harry's arms. Harry yawned and dug his head into the hollow where Ginny's shoulder met her neck. "Morning love," he mumbled into her shoulder.

Ginny leaned closer into him, allowing his hands to fall so that they wrapped around her large swollen belly. "Morning," she said blissfully.

Harry could feel the baby kicking against his hand. He smiled. "Someone's uppity this morning," he said.

"I think he's happy," Ginny said. She looked around the room, taking in her surrounding as she'd neglected to do the night before. It was beautiful. The walls were a soft rose colour and the back wall had a row of picture windows, offering them an unimpeded view of a French courtyard. Harry had insisted on planning the honeymoon (And refused to tell Ginny the cost. He knew she would feel bad) and Ginny very much approved of his planning skills. He had good taste.

"So," Harry said, pulling her closer so that her back leaned flat against his chest. "I was thinking today we could check out the market. Or some museums. Or we could just stay in bed all day. It's your choice, we have all weekend."

Ginny giggled. "We'll do it all," she said, turning around to face him. "But for now let's just stay in bed."

"Sounds like a plan," Harry said with a smile. He leaned across his wife to grab the room service menu off the end table. "Breakfast?" he offered.

xxx

Back at the Burrow, Molly Weasley was having the shock of her life. "You're doing _what_?" she asked, flabbergasted.

"Mum, we have to stop him," Ron insisted.

"Ron, it's not up to the three of you job to take down the darkest wizard of all time-"

"With all due respect, Mrs Weasley," Hermione said, cutting the woman off. "It is."

"Dumbledore trusted us to-" Ron tried to explain.

"Dumbledore was a great man," Molly said. "But that does not mean that you have to follow his orders, especially when their they are as obscene as this."

"No one else can do it," Ron tried again.

"And why is that?"

"Because of the prophecy," Hermione said. "Harry has to be the one to take him down. We have to go with him. He's not doing it alone."

Molly sighed and sat back in her chair, pressing her fingers hard against her temples as if she had a headache. Suddenly her eyes snapped open and she leaned forward. "What about Ginny and the baby?" she asked. "What will happen to them whilst you lot are out doing whatever secret thing you are doing?"

"We haven't quite figured that out yet. I think Harry and Ginny have come up with an idea, but they haven't told us." Hermione replied.

Molly stood up and paced her living room floor, running her fingers through her frizzy red hair. "This is madness," she said.

Ron and Hermione looked up at her from where they sat holding hands on the couch. "We know Mum," Ron said. "But it has to be done."

Molly paced some more. "How long do you think it will take?" She asked.

Ron was pleased with the minor improvement in her willingness to budge. "We don't know," he said. "Not too long though, I reckon."

Molly stopped pacing for a moment, as if considering something, then continued. "And when do you have to leave?"

Ron and Hermione glanced at each other. "Soon," Ron said.

"How soon is soon?"

They exchanged a quick glance again before Hermione spoke tentatively. "September?"

xxx

Harry and Ginny sat in a small and elegant cafe by the main street, sipping coffee and looking out at all the people who passed by. People seemed to dress better in Paris. Ginny looked down at her yellow sundress that at home would pass off as nice, but here, in the land of fashion, seemed rather bland. She made a mental note to reconsider her fashion choices once she wasn't pregnant anymore. Of course, once the baby was born, there was no telling how much time she would have to worry about minuscule things like clothes, what with the whole issue issue of Horcruxes. Clothes wouldn't matter then. And God knew what they would be doing, where they would be going... She pushed the thought away, refusing to think of such stressful things on her honeymoon.

A waiter came to their table and took their order, then sped off into the kitchen. "It's beautiful here," Ginny commented.

Harry smiled. "Not as beautiful as you."

Ginny giggled. "I know," she joked. "You just can't get enough of me in my pudgy glory."

Harry laughed, "Yep. I only married you for your looks you know."

"Oh?" Ginny said in a mock-offended tone. "So it's just the outside that counts?"

"With you," Harry said, dropping the sarcasm. "It doesn't matter. The inside is just as gorgeous as the outside."

Ginny giggled again and leaned across the table to kiss her new husband. People at the restaurant stared at the couple, partly because they thought they were cute, partly because they thought that Ginny was too young to be so pregnant, and partly (if not mostly) because French people like to stare.

Neither Ginny nor Harry minded the gawking. They had gone well past caring if people stared. Right now the only thing either of them cared about was each other and their baby.

Hundreds of miles away, hanging around the neck of Delores Dolores Umbridge, sat the first Horcrux; waiting.


	33. Up All Night

Up All Night

Harry and Ginny arrived home from their honeymoon on Monday, exactly two weeks before school was due to start. On the day of their arrival Ginny was feeling spectacularly huge and uncomfortable due the heat, and the baby's persistent kicking, and spent most of the day laying on the couch in the family room, sipping iced tea. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat with her, discussing their plans for the coming year.

"Well, we can't go back to school," Hermione said. "We'll have to leave as soon as possible. Right after the baby's born, I suppose."

Harry nodded. "The sooner we start, the sooner this is over with."

"Mum was asking the other day," Ron said. "And it kind of made me wonder too. What _are_ you two going to do about the kid?"

Harry and Ginny exchanged knowing glances. "They're coming with us," Harry said. "Believe it or not, it's the safest place for them to be."

"But what if something happens to us?" Hermione asked. "We can't drag them into it too."

"No one will know that they are with us," Harry said. "Because, no one will see them," he looked at Ron and Hermione meaningfully.

Ron gave him a confused look, but Hermione nodded in understanding. "The Fidelius charm," she said.

"Precisely,"

"The what?" Ron asked.

"It's the secret keeper charm," Hermione told him. "Harry's going to be their secret keeper."

"Right," Ginny said, pleased with the solution the two of them had come up with.

"No," Harry said. "It can't be me." The other three teens turned to look at him, all wondering the same thing. "If the secret keeper dies, the secret dies with him," he said. "And there is a very real possibility that I could die."

Ginny flinched and wrapped her arms around her stomach. "Don't say that..."

"Sorry love, but it's either me or him. And it's _going_ to be him. But if it's not... There's no point in losing all of us."

There was a long silence before Ron finally broke it. "I'll do it," he said. Everyone looked at him. "It has to be someone that you trust, right? Well, I'm your brother, you trust me, right?"

Ginny nodded, "Of course."

"So it's decided," Hermione said. "Ron will be the secret keeper, and we'll all go together."

"It's decided," Harry agreed.

They all sat for a few minutes in a serious silence before Molly Weasley burst in, offering lemonade.

"I'd love some," Ginny said, making to stand up. She tried to heave herself off the couch but found that she was simply too heavy and unbalanced. She eventually and reluctantly accepted Harry's help. Once up, she waddled across the room to take a glass from her mother, nearly tripping over her own feet as she did so. It's hard to walk when you can't see your own feet.

"How are you feeling today dear?" Molly asked as she poured lemonade into her daughter's empty glass.

Ginny took a huge gulp and moved to sit back down on the couch. "Alright, I guess," she said. "I'm just really huge, and honestly, I think he's dancing in there, or something."

Molly smile sympathetically. "I know what you mean. Ron was like that ... Wouldn't stop moving, especially when I was trying to sleep. Little bugger."

"Sorry Mum," Ron called from across the room.

"That's alright dear. Fred and George were worse," she said. "They used to kick my ribs a lot. It got painful. I guess I should have suspected trouble then..."

Ginny felt a sharp pain in her lower ribs, "Ow!" she said, jumping a little. "Mum, stop giving him ideas."

Molly laughed. "Sorry dear." Everyone turned around when they heard a distant popping sound coming from the kitchen. "Speak of the Devil," Molly said smiling.

Fred and George entered the room, both wearing their usual mischievous looks on their faces. "Hey Ron, Hermione, Harry, big puffy version of Ginny," George said. They moved to sit in between Ginny and Harry on the couch.

"So," Fred said.

"How was the honeymoon?" George asked.

"Wait," Fred said.

"Don't tell us," they said together.

"It was wonderful, thank you," Ginny said. "How was your weekend?"

"Splendid," Fred said. "But we didn't come here to gab about weekends. We came to talk to Harry."

Harry turned his head to face them, "What about?"

"Come with us," They said together as they each grabbed one of Harry's arms and dragged him off the couch and out of the room. Once they had reached the kitchen - the next room over - they released Harry and grinned at him.

"So what is it?" Harry asked.

"Mum told us about your mission," Fred said.

"So we were thinking we should help," George continued.

"You know, since our sweet saved you guys last time."

"But we couldn't think of anything-"

"Until we were going through our stock at the store last night-"

"And we found this," they said together. George pulled a glass ball from his pocket and handed it to Harry.

Harry examined it. It looked rather similar to a remembrall. "What is it?" he asked.

"It's a Thought Orb," Fred explained.

"We call it the problem solver," George added.

"You see," Fred continued. "When you tap it like this," he tapped his wand against the orb. The fog inside began to spin and stir. "It will see what you currently desire, and give you the most basic answer for how to find it."

"Like so," George said, pointing at the orb. Golden letters formed in the orb.

_Check in the refrigerator._

Fred smirked, headed to the cupboard and pulled out a chicken leg, which he took a large bite out of. "See," he said through a full mouth.

Harry smiled. "It's brilliant," Harry said.

"We thought so," George said. "Now, we best be getting back to the shop, we left Verity in charge. Merlin knows what's gone wrong by now."

"We'll be seeing you Harry," Fred said, and before Harry could respond, they both Apparated from the room.

Harry pocketed the orb and returned to the living room, where Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Mrs Weasley waited for him. "What was that about?" Ginny asked upon his arrival.

Harry smirked. "Fred and George are geniuses."

xxx

That night, Ginny lay in bed with her husband, unable to get comfortable, and certainly unable to sleep. At around three in the morning, when she'd decided to give up on the idea of sleeping all together, she (with much effort) heaved herself off the bed and reached for her dressing robe and slid it on, making much more noise than she'd intended to. Harry stirred from sleep and opened his eyes to see her. "Ginny?" he called, sitting up. He reached to the night table for his glasses and slid them on. "What are you doing up, love?"

"I can't sleep," she said. "I'm going for a walk."

Harry lifted his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Alright," he said as he slid off the bed and stretched. "I'll come with you."

"You don't have to."

"I want to."

"Alright," Ginny said with a smile. "Company sounds great."

Harry grabbed a jumper and pulled it on before he and Ginny stepped quietly out of the room. They had only just made it to the stairs when they heard a door creak open across the hall from them. Hermione poked her head out. "Hey, what are you two doing?" she called in a whispered voice.

"Going for a walk," Harry whispered back.

Hermione gave them a peculiar look. "At this hour?"

"Yeah," Ginny said in a low voice. "Can't sleep."

Suddenly Ginny and Harry heard the muffled sound of Ron's voice coming from Hermione's room. They couldn't make out what he'd said, but that wasn't the important part anyway. Harry and Ginny exchanged knowing looks. Hermione's head disappeared back into the room, they heard more muffled talk, then she appeared again, Ron in tow. "We'll come with you."

"Suit yourself," Ginny whispered as the four tiptoed down the stairs, slid shoes on and headed outside. Once they were out of earshot of the house Ginny snickered. "So Ron... what were you doing in Hermione's room?"

"We were talking," Ron said bluntly.

"Talking?" Ginny said, laughing again. "Okay..."

Hermione feigned offence. "What else would we be doing?"

Ginny gestured to her stomach. "This."

Harry and Ron laughed. "If you must know," Hermione said "We were discussing this coming year."

"At three in the morning?" Harry asked.

Hermione went quiet. "It kept me up thinking about it."

Everyone else went quiet. They all knew how she felt. They felt the same way. Danger was just around the corner and they had tried their best to ignore it, but they couldn't hide forever. It was coming soon. The soon approached a small pond in the back area of the Weasley's property. Ginny, tired from walking on swollen ankles with nearly thirty pounds of baby weight on her, didn't hesitate to sit down on the grass. The others joined her.

"We're doing the right thing, aren't we?" Hermione asked. "Going out and doing this."

Ron nodded. "It has to be done."

"Had I known about this last year I would have agreed with you, but now... I mean. Is it really safe to subject the baby to that? Even if he _is _hidden."

"It's our best bet," Harry said. "It might be unsafe for the time being, for we're thinking about the future. He deserves to grow up in a safe world without dark wizards threatening to take over all the time."

Ron picked up a stone and skipped it across the water. "Yeah," he said. "It's what's best."

Ginny rubbed her stomach gently. The baby wasn't kicking. She figured he must be sleeping. "We can worry about this all later, but for now, let's just enjoy the night."

Harry, Hermione, and Ron and smiled and nodded in agreement. The four friends sat by the water until the break of dawn, enjoying what they knew was nearly the end of their adolescence, and trying to pretend, for one night, that they were normal teenagers just having a good time.


	34. The Kitchen

**It bothers me how short the chapters appear on FanFiction. I mean, on my computer their they are like six pages long. They should fix that... Anyways, on with the story!**

The Kitchen

Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way back to the Burrow well after the sun had risen. "Where have you lot been?" Molly asked as they entered, laughing tiredly.

"Out for a walk," Ron said.

Molly raised an eyebrow at him. "When did you leave?"

Ron opened his mouth. "Earlier. We all woke up early," Hermione said before he could speak.

"Hmm," Molly said disapprovingly. "So," she went on, dropping the subject. "What are you planning to do today?"

"Nap," Ginny said, yawning. She sat down at the table.

"That sounds like a great idea," Ron agreed, swaying exhaustedly on his heels.

"You best eat something first," Molly said. She received a chorus of groans. "At least have some toast," she insisted.

Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione all sat down and sleepily forced themselves to eat. Once they'd all worked through one piece of toast each, Molly was satisfied.

"Ron, don't forget, I need you to de-gnome the garden today."

"Mhm," Ron mumbled with a yawn.

"Well off you go then," She said. "Get some sleep,"

The teens grunted in agreement and headed to their respective rooms for the sleep they'd been denying themselves. Ginny, not even bothering to take her dressing robe off, collapsed onto the bed and pulled the covers over herself. Harry took his glasses off, placed them on the night stand, and crawled into bed next to her. "That was fun," he said, kissing her on the cheek. Ginny didn't respond as she was already asleep.

It was well past noon when Harry and Ginny woke up. Hermione had already been awake for half an hour. Ron bumped into them on the way down. The four, now energized, skipped lunch and headed outside.

Ron passed his sister, girlfriend, and now brother-in-law bags of Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans, keeping one for himself, and they set to work, scattering the sweets and making a trail as they walked away from the garden.

"Explain to me how this is going to work?" Harry asked.

"Gnomes love Bertie Bott's Beans. They'll follow the trail and hopefully get lost once their out of here."

"Why don't we just set Crookshanks off on them?" Ginny asked, struggling to bend over to pour beans without toppling forward.

"Hermione thinks it's _barbaric_," Ron explained rolling his eyes.

"It is," Hermione interjected.

"Sure," Ron said. He looked down to see that the box in his hand was empty. "That should do it," he said. He turned to Harry. "Want to toss the Quaffle around?"

"Always," Harry said, and they tossed their boxes aside and headed to the broom shed.

Ron and Harry rose into the air on their broom sticks and passed a Quaffle back and forth while Ginny and Hermione sat on the ground below, chatting.

"What are you going to name the baby if it's a girl?" Hermione asked.

"It's a boy," Ginny said.

"But if it isn't?"

Ginny thought about it. "Lily, I think."

"After Harry's mum?"

"Yeah. And also, I like the name. It's pretty, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Hermione agreed. "So, seeing as you're so sure it's a boy, what do you have in mind for him?"

Ginny tapped a finger against her chin in thought. "I kind of want to pick one out when I see him, you know? Like, I want to just look at him and say, 'His name is...'."

"That sounds beautiful."

"Thanks," Ginny said. She giggled. "Some woman in Paris told me I should name him Oscar."

"Oscar?"

"I'll think about it," Ginny said. She looked up at her brother and boyfriend, whizzing around in the air, and yearned to join them, to feel the wind blowing through her hair, soaring high on her broomstick. "I can_not _wait to not be pregnant anymore," She said.

Hermione laughed lightly. "Whatever do you mean?" she asked sarcastically. "Don't you just _love _carrying around forty extra pounds?"

"Oh, it's _heavenly_," Ginny retorted. "It's almost as fun as puking every ten minutes, like earlier on."

"Well at least that got better," Hermione offered.

"Yeah," she said. "Not all hope is lost." Ginny looked back up at the boys on their brooms, laughing and calling across to each other. She rubbed her extremely large belly and sighed. "But at the same time, there's a part of me that wants to stay pregnant. I mean, we're basically just waiting for him to be born before we leave."

"Right," Hermione said. "We had so much fun last night I almost forgot."

"We all did," Ginny said, gliding her hands over her belly. "That was the point."

The girls sat in silence for a moment, watching the boys fly around above them, before Hermione spoke softly. "It won't be forever, you know."

"I know."

"I mean, once we finish this and Harry defeats Voldemort, the war will be over. We can go back to normal."

Ginny laughed. "Hermione, what exactly would you call normal about the way things are now?"

Hermione laughed as well. "Good point."

Ginny's smile fell as she spoke again. "I just don't want anything to happen," she cradled her stomach slightly. "I can't imagine having to do this without Harry." Tears started to form in her eyes.

"You won't," Hermione said, grabbing her friend's hand. "I promise." Ginny nodded and wiped the tears away. "And I keep my promises," Hermione added.

Ginny smiled and composed herself. "You're right," she said. "Everything's going to be okay."

"Right," Hermione agreed. The boys' brooms lowered to the ground, and they climbed off the join Hermione and Ginny. "Good game?" Hermione asked, mildly interested.

"Very," Ron said. "What did you guys talk about?"

Ginny shot Hermione a nervous look. "Baby names," Hermione said, not going any further.

"Any new ideas?" Harry asked, pulling Ginny in and rubbing his hand over her stomach.

"Ginny shook her head. "We'll know when we see him."

"Well you know what I know right now?" Ron said. "It's time for tea."

"Good idea," Hermione agreed, and she, along with Harry and Ginny, followed Ron into the kitchen.

"I'll get the cups," Ginny said, heading toward the cupboard.

"I'll put the kettle on," Hermione chimed in. The small kitchen rung with the sound of cupboard doors being opened and closed and cups and plates clanging. It was all tied together by the loud whistle of the kettle as the water boiled. Hermione carried it over to the table and poured steaming water into the cups, while Harry followed, dropping a teabag into each. Ginny came waddling toward them, carrying a plate of biscuits.

The four friends sat down around the table and sipped their tea. "Ron," Hermione said. "You need a haircut. Your hair is getting shaggy."

"I like my hair, thank you very much Hermione."

"But honestly Ron, it looks so... I mean it would only take a few seconds."

"Hermione," Ron said exaggeratedly. "You're starting to sound like my mum."

"And that would be bad because?" Molly Weasley said, entering the room, a basket of unfolded clothes levitating next to her.

"It's not," Hermione said. "He just thinks that anyone who suggested that he cut his untamed mane is a mad woman."

"I have to agree with her dear," Molly said, flicking her wand and causing the clothes to fold themselves and she made herself tea from what was left in the kettle. "It's getting rather long."

"Mum, please, stick to picking on Charlie's hair."

"How can she pick on Charlie's hair if he isn't _here_?" Ginny asked mockingly.

"Exactly," Molly said, sipping her tea as the last of the garments finished folding itself and landed in the basket, gently. "So, did you finish with the garden?"

"It's completely gnome free," Ron said.

Molly raised an eyebrow. "Why do I honestly doubt that?"

"Probably because we lead them away with Every Flavour Beans," Hermione said.

Molly rolled her eyes. "How many times must I tell you, that doesn't work?" She sighed. "Anyway, I've got to go take care of some doxies I found in the drapes upstairs. If you need me I'll be on the third floor. And Ron, go out there and do it _right_." And with that she left.

Ron sighed and drank his tea. "Bloody mad," he said, He looked over at Hermione and smirked. "Both of you."

Hermione laughed. "That's why you love me." The group finished their tea and munched on biscuits, Ron grumbling the whole time about having to redo his work. When the tea was finished Ginny, pushing on the table for support, heaved herself from her chair and began picking up everyone's cups and plates.

"I'll clean up," she said. "You guys get started on the garden." She waddled over to the counter, dishes in hand. Harry stood to help her, but she waved him down.

"Thanks," Ron said. He looked back at Harry. "Hey, maybe after we've finished with the garden _again_, we could-"

A loud crash came from behind them. The three teens turned to look at Ginny and the pile of broken dishes that littered the floor around her. In a split second Ginny, whose face was now red as her hair, heaved forward, gripping her stomach. A loud, pained scream escaped her lips.

"Ginny!" Harry shouted, jumping from his seat and running to his wife. Ron and Hermione were right behind him.

When Ginny's scream came to an end and she finally stood up straight. Huffing and gasping for air, Ginny looked straight at Harry with a both happy and horrified expression on her face as she spoke.

"He's coming."


	35. Here We Go

**Hey guys, I really hope you like this chapter. I'm trying to keep it as realistic as I can, because unlike TV, no, a baby is not born in ten minutes, though my depiction will still be pretty short when compared to reality. I'm basically getting all my info from what I remember of the whole event last year when my little sister was born. Thanks for reading!**

Here We Go

"He's coming," Ginny said a little breathlessly.

"Now?" Harry asked, bewildered.

Ginny nodded and clutched her stomach tightly. "Now!"

Ron looked at her, confused. "Wait, run that by me again."

"The baby's coming!" Hermione squealed.

"What?"

"We've got to get to St Mungo's,"

"Let's go," Ginny said. She was suddenly hit with another wave of pain. "Ahhh!" she screamed, and her knees buckled beneath her. She would have fallen to the floor had Harry not been there to catch her.

"Mum!" Ron called. He looked frantically back to his sister who was whimpering in Harry's arms. "It's too soon," he said. "She's not due for a few more weeks."

"It's probably because it's her first baby, and she's young," Hermione said. "The baby will be fine; it's nothing the healers can't take care of."

Molly Weasley entered the kitchen then, absorbing the madness. "What the-" she looked at her daughter, then at Harry, then at her frantic son. "Is she-"

"Yes," Hermione said, "We're about to head to St Mungo's."

As the contraction ended, Ginny stood up straight. She smiled amidst the pain. "Come on," she said, pulling Harry's hand. "Let's go meet our son."

The small group bustled toward the fire grate and stepped through to St Mungo's. Harry took Ginny's hand as they all manoeuvred their way through the busy hospital. They finally approached the front desk, where a pretty blond witch was directing a man who had a small tree sprouting out of his ear. "Next," she said.

Harry and Ginny moved forward. "She's in labour," he explained.

The woman smiled at them and pointed toward the stairs. "Second floor, to the right wing," she instructed them.

"Thank you," Harry said, and he led the group away. "How are you holding up?" he asked Ginny as they descended upon the stairs.

"I'm-" she stopped, inhaled sharply, and clutched her stomach in pain, then composed herself. "Just peachy."

Harry laughed. "Your ability to keep your humour while you're writhing in pain is uncanny."

"Thank you, I'll be here all week," she said sarcastically.

"All week?" Ron nearly shouted.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "She's kidding Ronald."

"Oh," his face reddened and he looked down at his feet. He knew absolutely _nothing_ about labour and babies.

They soon approached a long hallway, in front of which was a second desk with another witch standing behind it. She was a plump woman with dark chestnut coloured skin. She looked up from her paperwork to see Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Mrs Weasley all standing in front of her. She smiled. "Well, hello," she said cheerfully.

"Hi," Ginny said, grinning slightly. Between contractions she was in a rather cheerful mood. He was coming ... Now. Her baby was going to be born today. Her son!

"What's your name?" The woman asked.

"Ginny," Harry said. "Ginevra Potter."

"Alright," The nurse said, attempting to appear un-starstruck. "Come with me, we'll get you to a room." The witch led them down the hall to a deep blue painted door, which opened to reveal a somewhat large hospital room with pale walls, equipped with a bed, a bassinet, two chairs, and plenty of medical things that no one in the group but Molly really recognized. "A healer will be in to see you soon," she said. With a quick smile she left.

Ginny moved to sit down on the bed, followed by Harry. Molly and Hermione leaned against a wall opposite them, and Ron stood awkwardly, his hands in his pockets. "It's happening," Ginny said. "I can't believe it's happening."

"I know," Harry said, rubbing Ginny's shoulders gently. "Do you think he'll be born by tonight?"

"I think- ow, ow, _Fucking OW!_" Another contraction hit her like a tide washing upon a shore. She whimpered and gripped the blankets beneath her, her nails digging so hard into the fabric hard it ripped. It was the most unbelievable pain she'd ever felt in her entire life. There was nothing she could even compare it to. She closed her mouth to stop herself from screaming, and just when she felt as though she couldn't take it any longer, it began to fade.

As the room came back into focus she realized that Harry was holding her tightly. In the minute that the contraction had lasted, she hadn't noticed anything. All there was, was pain, and the thought of her baby. It was the only thing that got her through it.

"You're so strong," Harry commented. He gave her a weak smile, but she could see the guilt and pity in his eyes.

The healer entered then. "Hello Ginny," the wizard in long white robes said. "I'm Healer Merville."

"Hello, healer," Ginny said.

"So," The healer said, approaching Ginny, his robes sweeping around him. "Who's ready to have a baby?"

"I thought I was," Ginny said, groaning.

The Healer laughed. "Alright, well, hopefully he'll be born soon, and you can be done with the labour and holding your baby as soon as possible. He looked at Harry. "You must be the father," he said in a friendly tone.

Harry nodded. "I'm her husband."

"Great," The healer said. He looked around. "It's wonderful to see such family support."

"We're all here for her," Ron said. Hermione nodded in agreement.

"Wonderful," Healer Merville said. He turned back to Ginny. "Now, I need to do an examination, so I'm going to ask you to lay back and spread your legs-"

"I'm out of here," Ron announced, jumping a little at the Healer's words. "Coming 'Mione?"

Hermione sighed. "Alright, let's go then. We'll be back, Ginny."

Ginny looked at her husband and smirked. "The beauty of life! Ron never changes," she said, lying back on the bed.

"It'll be different when he sees him, love," Harry said, taking her hand. "It'll be different for all of us."

xxx

Hermione and Ron sat in the posh waiting room of the birth wing. They shared a couch, sitting impatiently as they waited for any news of development. Ron ran his fingers through his hair and drummed his fingers on his knees. "We've been out here for twenty minutes," Ron said nervously.

"More like fifteen," Hermione corrected him, glancing at the clock on the wall.

"Do you think something's wrong?" He asked, getting increasingly nervous.

"Everything's fine, Ron," Hermione assured him. "Why are you so worried?"

"It's just... that's my little sister, and I mean, she's so young... and it's a big baby... what if...?"

"What if _what_?" Hermione said. "Ron, nothing's going to happen, Ginny's fine. She's a big girl-"

"No she's not, she's sixteen!"

"Ron, she's married and in a few hours she'll be a mother. Face it, she's growing up."

Ron slumped back in his seat. "This is Harry's fault."

"Oh, don't start that again," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

xxx

"Harry," Ginny said, groaning as the Healer left the room to get her a pain soothing draught, her mother behind him. "This is your fault!" Another contraction hit and she leaned back on the bed, letting out a small cry. "Ugh," she said as the pain washed over her. "We are never having sex ever again!" she yelled, "Ever!"

Harry laughed. "Whatever you say, love."

"And we're not having any more children!"

"That would require sex, Ginny."

"This is _not _the time to make me feel stu- _OW!_"

Harry rubbed Ginny's back. "I'm sorry," he said. "You're doing great."

The Healer re-entered then, carrying a plastic cup filled with a pale pink liquid. "Here you go," he said as he passed it to her. "Drink this, it will ease the pain."

"Thank you," Ginny said, reaching over to take the cup. She took a long, drawn out sip, gratefully drinking nearly half the potion in one chug. It tasted sweet, like strawberry saltwater taffy. It reminded her instantly of the taste she'd experienced when she had drunk the Fruitility potion so many months back. When she'd first learned she was pregnant. And now, here they were.

She felt the effects of the potion immediately. The pain in her body seemed to slip away. She sighed in relief. It wasn't as though she couldn't feel the pain anymore it was just much less intense. "Feeling better?" The Healer asked.

"Much better," Ginny said.

"Well enjoy it while it lasts," he said. "Because it will fade when you're ready to deliver."

"Well for now it's great," she said.

Ron timidly appeared at the door then. "Is it safe to come in?" he asked, his hands over his eyes.

Ginny laughed. "It's fine Ron."

Ron pulled his hands down and entered the room. He observed that Ginny had changed into blue hospital robes, and was now sitting rather peacefully on her hospital bed. "How're you holding up?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she said. "I'm excited more than anything."

Ron looked at her confusedly, then to Harry for an explanation. "Pain soothing draught," Harry told him.

"Oh, that makes sense," Ron said. "Well, that's good... I think..." He looked at the Healer. "That's good, right?"

Healer Merville laughed lightly. "It's a good thing, yes. She's not in too much pain for the time being. But the effects will wear off when she's ready to deliver."

"Just out of curiosity, why can't we eliminate her pain completely?" Harry asked.

"That's actually a rather common question," the Healer said. "Mr Potter, labour pain is one of the most unbearable pains known to humans- Muggle and wizard alike. The only thing worse is delivery pain, which, apparently, is a close comparison pain-wise to that of the Cruciatus curse." Ginny flinched at these words. The Healer went on. "In order to numb that sort of pain completely we'd have to use a potion that would be much too strong to be safe for a pregnant woman to drink. It could hurt the infant. So we do the best we can."

"Well that was horrifyingly enlightening," Ginny said.

"Sorry," Harry said again.

"I forgive you," Ginny said as she looked over to see Hermione stepping into the room as well. She smiled at her. "Hi Hermione,"

"You're mother just sent me," she said. "She wanted me to let you know that she's sent a Patronus to alert the family. Oh, and you're dad just got here."

"Thanks," Ginny said, leaning back against her stack of pillows.

Hermione nodded. "It's no problem." She turned to Ron. "Ron, your mum and dad wish to see you."

"Alright," he said. "I'll see you later, Gin and Harry," he called as he left the room.

"Well," Healer Merville said, looking from Ginny to the clipboard which levitated in front of him, an enchanted quill scribbling notes upon it every few seconds. "I'll be back in half an hour or so to check on your progress. For now just try to stay comfortable, and think about your baby."

Once Harry and Ginny were alone, Ginny felt an odd sensation of bliss mixed with terror. She was petrified of the delivery, but at the same time so happy that this would all be over soon.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Harry asked, taking Ginny's hand in his own.

"No," Ginny said, wincing slightly at the still somewhat existent pain caused by another contraction. "Just stay with me."

Harry smiled at his wife and tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear, rubbing her oversized belly with his free hand. "Of course," he said. "I'll always stay with you. Both of you."

"Forever?" Ginny asked, feeling rather sentimental today. She figured it was the fault of her crazed emotions.

Harry planted a kiss on her forehead and smoothed her hair back. "Forever, love. Forever."


	36. Life

**Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the chapter you've all been waiting for. Hope you like it. **

Life

Ginny groaned and rolled over on her side. The pain soothing draught was starting to wear off. She knew what that meant. Harry rubbed her back gently and whispered soothingly in her ear. She was rather exhausted, as it was now nearly eight o'clock at night, and she'd now been in labour for over seven hours. She'd tried many times to take a nap, but between excitement/pre-birth jitters and the fact that the draught merely _dulled_ the pain (and had been gradually wearing off for the past hour), she found herself unable. What in Merlin's name was taking so long? Why couldn't the kid just be born already?

"Well," Healer Merville said after completing her third examination. "You're about seven centimetres dilated. From this point it could go either way, you could start dilating quickly and deliver in half an hour or you could stay like this for another few hours. There's really no way to tell."

Ginny sighed and leaned her head against Harry's chest. "It hurts," she said quietly.

"I know," Harry said. "You're doing so great. Just think about the baby, Ginny. Think of our son."

Ginny smiled weakly. "I can't wait to hold him."

"Me neither," Harry said. "But we're just going to have to wait a little while longer. Do you think you can do that?"

Ginny nodded.

"See, it's not so bad," he said, unaware of the sheer wrongness of his statement.

Ginny glared at him. "No uterus, no right to comment."

xxx

In the waiting room of the St Mungo's delivery wing, something of a small gathering had formed. Ron and Hermione sat on one couch, holding hands and frequently glancing up at the clock impatiently; Arthur and Molly Weasley spoke animatedly in low voices about the upcoming arrival of their first grandchild; Bill and Fleur sat together on another couch, chatting with Remus and Tonks (who had come to the hospital for a scan and stumbled on the group, deciding to wait with them); and Fred and George sat opposite each other at a small table by the window, playing wizard chess to pass the time.

Molly looked around at the hospital walls. This area of the hospital was rather familiar to her. She'd delivered seven children here ... brought life seven times into the world. She smiled and rolled her eyes at the memory of Fred and George's birth. A series of April Fools jokes from the day had cause havoc in the hospital, and after a long string of strange events, Molly had given birth to the twins in a broom cupboard, with nurses walking in and out. It was quite the show.

"I'm worried about her," Arthur Weasley said to his wife, interrupting her thoughts. "She's our little girl and she's..."

"She's having a baby, yes," Molly said. "I know it's scary, but it's okay. She'll do great, I know it."

"It's just strange," He said. "It feels like just yesterday we were changing her nappies and trying to feed her puréed pumpkin without getting most of it on the ceiling; and now, well... she's about to do all those things for her own child!"

"In a way it's sort of beautiful," Molly said. "Our baby girl is all grown up. Our _youngest_ is giving us a grandchild! Doesn't that make us old?"

Arthur smirked. "You'll never be old Molly. And when you think about it, she might be our youngest, but she's still the first to have a baby." His smile faded slightly. "Though not under the idealist of circumstances."

Molly shrugged and gave him a sad smile. "They were meant to be together. We know that, they know that, everyone knows that. So they got a bit of an early start. Worse things can happen. We just have to see this whole situation as it really is: Two young people who really love each other having a baby together. Our little girl has grown up."

Arthur smiled. "You're very right," he said. "And I'm happy for them. I just wish it wasn't _so_ soon."

"Yeah," Molly agreed. "But, of course, we were only nineteen when Bill was born. Just shy of eighteen when we got married."

"Nineteen is adult," Arthur pointed out.

"Think of all they've been through. Think of all the mature decisions they've made and all the adult things they've had to do. Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron are more adult now than most people ever will be. Never forget that."

"I suppose so," Arthur said. He thought for a moment. "I just hope their baby doesn't have to go through that."

"Well that's why we're all still fighting." Molly said. "So he won't have to."

On the other side of the room, Fred and George had struck up a conversation with Ron and Hermione. "Godparents?"Fred asked.

"Does that mean if they kick the bucket, you two get the kid?" George cut in.

"In less rude words, yes," Hermione said.

"Huh," The twins said together.

"I'm rather hurt that they didn't choose us," Fred joked.

"Right you are, Fred," George agreed. "We'd be excellent godfathers."

"Right," Hermione said sarcastically. "You two would be just the _best_ influence."

"Was that sarcasm, I detect," George asked.

"I think it is, George," Fred agreed. They both laughed. "You know, George, I'm still pretty sure they've got twins in there. I mean, Ginny's ungodly huge."

"That _would _explain it," Fred agreed.

"I think," Hermione said. "That if they _were_ having twins, the healers would know by now. And you can't base the number of infants she carries off of her size. Besides, she would have felt kicking from two areas at once and figured it out by now. Your logic is rather flawed."

"She's got a point," Ron agreed, glad to have something above his brothers.

The twins rolled their eyes and spoke together. "Go snog or something."

xxx

Ginny doubled over in pain, clutching onto Harry's arm for support. "I think it's completely worn off," she said as she composed herself again.

"Should I get the Healer?" He asked, jumping to his feet.

"No- Ow!" she screamed as the pain overwhelmed her again. The contractions were getting closer and closer, and much more intense.

"I'll get him then," Harry said, turning to leave.

"No, don't leave," Ginny said, suddenly feeling very vulnerable. "Not now."

"But Ginny-"

"I need you Harry," Ginny said pleadingly. "Please stay."

Harry looked from Ginny to the door, torn. Part of him knew that she needed to see the Healer, but another part of him couldn't leave her in her state. It was at this point that he got a brilliant idea. "Alright," he said as he crossed the room to stand in front of her. He scooped the very pregnant and therefore very heavy Ginny up into his arms. "Then you're coming with me."

Ginny laughed amidst her discomfort as Harry carried her out of the room and down the hall. They received strange looks from passersby as Harry ran toward the main desk of the wing, carrying his pregnant wife. Their family laughed but was rather unfazed by the strangeness of as they passed the waiting room. "Hi," Ginny called over her shoulder, laughing. They finally reached Healer Merville, who was chatting with a nurse. He gave them a questioning look.

"I think she's ready," Harry said.

The healer smiled and nodded. "I trust your judgment. Off we go then."

They arrived back in the hospital room, where Harry laid Ginny down gently on the bed. She groaned as she was hit with another contraction. She suddenly felt a very strong pressure forming around her hips, giving her the urge to push. "Oh god," she whispered. "This is happening. This is really happening."

"You're right," the Healer said. "It's time. Alright Ginny, he's coming right now. You might want to sit up. You're going t feel a very strong urge to push-"

"Already feeling it," Ginny said breathlessly.

"Alright," The healer said. "Miranda?" He called over his shoulder. A short nurse sped in to stand next to him. "This is Nurse Miranda," he explained. "She's going to assist me with the delivery. Miranda, this is Ginny."

"Hi there luv," She said, smiling. "Alright," she said, "Spread you legs, and on the count of three, you're going to push, okay?"

Ginny nodded quickly, her head shining with sweat. She grabbed Harry's hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Alright luv, one..."

Ginny could feel the pressure building up.

"Two..."

"You're doing great love," Harry said, though he wore a horrified expression.

"Three. Push!"

Ginny felt every ounce of strength in her body bearing down. It was the most excruciating pain she had ever felt, and she squeezed Harry's hand so tightly she nearly broke it. After enormous amounts of effort, Ginny felt that she could not do it anymore, and she gave in.

"Good," the nurse said. "Now try it again. One, two, three, as hard as you can, Ginny."

Ginny, beyond the point of exhaustion and in unfathomable amounts of pain, bore down again, pushing with all her might, until she could no longer.

"Alright, the baby's crowning ... One more big push!"

"I can't do it..." Ginny whimpered.

"Yes you can Ginny!" Harry said encouragingly. "I believe in you!"

"But!"

"Do it for the baby," he said, brushing the hair from her face. "Do it for our son."

Ginny thought of the precious life inside her and dug deep within herself, finding another well of strength she never knew she had. She nodded and in her newfound, grim determination gasped out, "Okay."

Ginny gave one last strong effort and suddenly felt something slip out. She knew instantly what had happened. There were no longer two hearts beating inside of her. Her child was born. The baby wailed instantly at the top of his lungs. A strong, powerful, beautiful cry. Tears rolled down Ginny's face.

"It's a boy," the Healer announced. Ginny and Harry exchanged a happy look, as if to silently say, "We already knew that." The healer lifted the small and beautiful child so Ginny and Harry could see him. There were no words to explain the feeling that they shared. Harry, his own face glistening with tears, moved to cut the umbilical cord. Once that was finished he took his son in his arms and carried him over to Ginny.

"Our boy," he said through his tears, passing his still screaming son to his mother. The feeling of love between the two parents was unimaginable.

Ginny sobbed tears of joy as she took the small boy in her arms. "Our son," She turned to Harry and kissed him. "Harry, we have a son."

"He's beautiful," Harry said, leaning down to kiss him on the head.

The nurse moved to stand next to the young new family. "We just need to examine him," she said.

Ginny nodded. "Of course," she said, passing the child over. She was hit with a slight feeling of loss as she watched the woman walk away with her child. She remained unfazed as the Healer told her that she had to deliver the placenta.

When both mother and baby had finished their procedures, the infant was returned to his parents, clean and wrapped up in a tight blue blanket. The nurse and the healer left the room, giving the parents time to be alone with their child.

Ginny gently stroked her son's wrinkly little face. "What should we name him?"

Harry stared down at his son in total awe and grabbed the gurgling baby's hand. He wrapped his tiny fingers tightly around Harry's index finger. "We could name him after your dad."

Ginny giggled. "I have six brothers. I'm sure my father will have plenty of grandsons named after him. Besides, he doesn't look like an Arthur." She kissed her son's forehead and smoothed his soft sprouting brown hair down. "Let's name him after your dad."

Harry felt a lump forming in his throat. "James?" He looked from the little red faced boy to his smiling wife. "Really?"

Ginny nodded. "I like it, it's a good name. Strong and brave just like his father."

"Okay," Harry said, smiling down at his son. "James it is."

"James Sirius," Ginny corrected him. "James Sirius Potter."

James began to cry again. His tiny eyes opened slightly, revealing their chocolaty brown colour. His whine became more high pitched and he turned his head into his mother's arm as she cradled him.

"Shh," Ginny said as she lifted her son to her shoulder and soothed him. She suddenly felt as if she knew exactly what to do, how to be a good mum, though she'd only been a mother for about ten minutes. She turned to Harry. "I'll calm him down," she said. "Why don't you go get everyone and tell them the news?"

Harry grinned and leaned in to kiss James' forehead, then plant a soft kiss on Ginny's lips. "I'll be right back. I love you."

Harry marched proudly down the hall and into the waiting room. Everyone stood as he entered. "It's a boy," he said, smiling widely.

"We knew it!" Hermione exclaimed. The group ran toward the new father, overwhelming him with questions about the baby.

"Would you like to come meet him?" He asked. He received an excited response all around. "Alright," he said. "Come with me."

Everyone followed Harry down the hall and into the room where Ginny sat in bed, cradling James in her arms. Harry gestured for the group to be quiet as they entered, unsure of whether James was asleep, and not wanting to startle him, either way. Ginny looked up from the tiny infant to see her family flooding into the room. She smiled at them.

"Hi guys," she said, lifting the baby boy up slightly so that everyone could see him. "This is James. James Sirius."

"He's beautiful," Molly said. "He looks just like you." She moved to stand closer to her daughter. "Could I hold him?"

Ginny nodded and passed him to her mother, who took him in her arms like the practiced pro that she was. The woman cooed over her new grandson, rocking him slightly. "Arthur, do you want to hold your grandson?"

"Of course," he said as Molly passed the baby to him. James was passed around from Arthur to Fred, to George, to Bill, and then to Fleur before Ginny finally spoke up. "Alright, I think his godparents should get a chance to hold him now.

Hermione smiled tentatively as Fleur handed her the tiny blue bundle. She stared down at the boy with his little pink face. "He's so adorable," she cooed, bouncing him lightly in her arms."Oh, Ginny," she said. "Good job." She hugged the baby to her chest. "Oh, I want one." Ron stared at her. "You know what I mean," she said. "Here, you hold him," she said softly, passing James over.

Ron, having no idea how to hold a baby and honestly afraid of breaking him, shyly took the child in his arms. "Hey there little guy," he said. "I'm your uncle Ron." He looked at his sister and best friend, who both smiled back at him. "I'm going to be the best uncle ever. I'll buy you lots of sweets and let you do things that your parents won't let you do."

"I'll hex you if you do," Ginny joked.

Ron smirked. "And I'll show you loads of ways to bug your Mum," he whispered.

"Alright," Ginny said playfully. "Give me my son back before you turn him into a trouble maker like his uncles."

As Ron passed his new nephew back to his sister, saying, "Congratulations Gin."

James began to cry, a loud, distinctive wail that Molly knew well. "He's hungry," she told her daughter.

Ginny took the baby in one arm and began to unbutton the top of her hospital gown with the other. "I'll feed him."

"Well," Fred said as she did so. "Love to stick around for the show, but I have a feeling this is about to get awkward."

"Agreed," George said.

"We ought to give them some family time anyway," Molly chimed in. "Come on you lot, let's let them be. Get some rest Ginny."

Each member of the group said their goodbyes and headed out. Hermione and Ron were the last to leave, insisting that they would be back the next morning to see them. After everyone had left, Harry and Ginny were alone with their son. "I think he's doomed to be a trouble maker," Ginny said as she lifted the child to feed him. "Given his family history."

"Yeah, he comes from a long line of them," Harry agreed.

Ginny giggled, but her face quickly turned serious. "James," she said, looking down at the small infant she held to her chest. "Your daddy and I will always protect you. I promise. No matter what happens, we'll always be here to keep you safe because we love you more than anything else in the entire world."

"Always," Harry said. He smiled as he stared down at his son and took a moment to think about his new life. He had a beautiful wife, and a beautiful son, and a whole group of people who would always support him. The two most important people in his entire life were right here with him. How could things get much better?

The young family sat together in the hospital room, silently enjoying each other's presence and blissfully thinking of the future. Harry and Ginny were not supposed to fall in love. They were not supposed to get married, and Ginny certainly wasn't supposed to get pregnant. But tonight, as they held their son, they knew that neither would have it any other way. Things were perfect just as they were. They were going to be okay.

Something became quite clear to Ginny as she stared down at the face of her beautiful new born son, then into the eyes of her husband. You don't pick who you fall in love with, and it never happens the right way.

**The End**


	37. The Chapter Which Shall Not Be Named

**Hello my wonderful readers! So, there it is. My little story is finally finished. I honestly can't believe it. When I started writing this, it was something of a summer project. I wanted something to write, and the idea wouldn't get out of my head. It was only supposed to be a few chapters long, and I didn't expect much response. Wow, was I wrong about both things. Thirty six chapters later, here we are, and I'd like to share with you guys the accomplishments we've achieved together. As of the time that this chapter was updated, this story has achieved a total of 663 reviews; 167,482 hits; 33, 264 visitors; and 67,151 words. On a word document the story adds up to a total of around 150 pages- the length of the average novel manuscript. This story is on the favourites list of 290 people, has a total of 279 subscribers, and has been added to 9 user communities (The Greatest Stories of Harry Potter, Harry Potter Bibliophile, The Best of Harry x Ginny, With Just One Kiss… Harry and Ginny, Kim's Harry Potter Favorites, king of fluff's Queen, Chocolate and emerald… HP GW, fairy80's face HP stories, and Great REading Complete Fics). All of these numbers are hopefully still counting. I couldn't have done any of this without you guys, your reviews and hits are the reason I kept writing. I'll never forget the friends and connections I've made through this story, and I'm not ashamed to say that I cried as I finished the last chapter. Thank you all for all you your support.**

**Now, I've been writing all of this as if I was saying goodbye, which I'm not. There WILL be a sequel. I will post something to let you all know when the first chapter is published, and I hope to see you all again. Hopefully we'll have as much fun and I'll see as great a response on the next one as I did this one. I'm not sure when it will be published, but I know it will be. Until we meet again, wonderful readers, I say only this; keep reading, keep loving, and above all, ALWAYS be a fan. Thanks for reading, you guys are all my heroes. 'Till next time, mischief managed.**

**-JustBeforeTheStorm**


	38. As Promised

**Hello my faithful readers! I'm back! Just thought I'd let you guys know, as promised, that I have posted the sequel to The Unexpected Heir. It is called (for now) The Unexpected Heir Part Two. Go to my profile for the link! Hope you like it! -CaseyLove**


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